


The Perfect Storm

by Roiwiez



Series: Path to Forgiveness [5]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Chapter long fight scenes, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Original powers and weapons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:28:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29411934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roiwiez/pseuds/Roiwiez
Summary: After a month of secrecy and reclusiveness, Vergil finally comes out of hiding.  After tracking him down, Nero approaches his father and demands to know what he's been up to.Vergil offers to tell him everything on one condition:  He must earn the truth in a duel.
Relationships: Dante & Vergil (Devil May Cry), Kyrie/Nero (Devil May Cry), Nero & Nico (Devil May Cry), Nero & Vergil (Devil May Cry)
Series: Path to Forgiveness [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928215
Comments: 21
Kudos: 43





	1. An Invitation

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome back everyone! In case you are new, this is the 5th part of my ongoing DMC series. It is highly recommended that you catch up on the previous stories first before starting this one.
> 
> To fans who have been following for a while, sorry for the delay. After going through some internet troubles, all my work went on hold for a while but I'm back in action and ready to give you more Vergil goodness. This is going to be a big one, many of you have had questions and concerns through the past chapters and all of them will be revealed here!
> 
> Prepare yourselves. Expect a chapter every week on Saturday.

Nudging open the front door, Nero begins slowly marching up the stairs while keeping his hands way above his head. The kids all start to giggle as he passes by but he pays them no mind. Making his way into the kitchen, Nero struggles to get the sink going with his elbows before thrusting his hands into the hottest water the sink can produce to wash away the grease and oil coating his hands. He tries to get as much of it off as he can before reaching for soap, but Kyrie swiftly snatches up the bottle before he can coat the whole thing in oil.

“You know you have two extra hands, right?” Kyrie reminds him as she gives him a _very_ generous amount of soap. “Surely four hands would work faster than two.”

“I am using all four.” Nero admits. “I don’t want to get my fingers near any of the moving parts.” Work has been pretty slow as of late, but that’s given Nero plenty of time to tinker alongside Nico in the garage. In between watching the kids while Kyrie worked around the house, Nero has spent almost all of his time forging his newest sword. He felt a pang of grief for Red Queen every time he saw the remains stashed away in the corner. It felt wrong to simply move on from the sword that kept him safe for almost a decade.

“Don’t you think you should take a break?” Kyrie asks as she slips her hands into Nero’s once they were clean. “You’re working yourself to the bone.” She wasn’t entirely wrong. Her fingers traced their way down his palm, going over various cuts, burns, and calluses which have formed over the past couple of weeks. No amount of washing was getting rid of some of the oil stains covering his hands.

“Don’t worry.” Nero assures, clasping his hands around hers. “I think It’s done! Nico is wiping it down and assembling it right now!”

“So we’ll finally have some time to ourselves?” Nero hears the excitement in Kyrie’s voice and his heart nearly pounds right out of his chest. With the recent invasion, the whole ordeal with his father, and the various projects around town he’s been busying himself with, time to just relax at home with Kyrie has been hard to come by.

“That’s right!” Nero realizes with a shock. “I’m free for the night!” No new jobs on the line, swords done, even Vergil has been behaving if Dante was to be trusted. The sudden abundance of free time was almost too good to be true. Various plans for what to do started rushing by so fast that some of them just flew right out of his mouth.

“Maybe I could make dinner tonight. Oh no, we could take the kids out to eat! No, no, no, we could take the kids out to the park!” Kyrie presses a finger against his lips and he promptly shuts up.

“How about you take it easy for the day?” Kyrie suggests. “I just said you’re overworking yourself. How about you relax and let me handle everything for the rest of the day? You could use the break.”

At the mere suggestion, Nero felt like collapsing into a bundle on the couch. The past month’s been a constant kick in the ass and he’s been pushing himself to make sure everything was ok. Staring back at Kyrie, he couldn’t help but notice the soreness in his arms and wrists, the pain running up his back from hunching over a table.

“You always come up with great idea’s honey.” Nero praises as he leans in to kiss her and rest his head on her shoulder.

“Someone in this house has to be the voice of reason.” Kyrie teases. “Now sit down and play with the kids, that’s an order.”

“I thought you wanted me to relax.” Nero retorts. “Rough housing with the kids isn’t going to help.”

“No whining or complaints.” Kyrie scolds. “Relax!” Arguing wasn’t an option, and it wasn’t like Nero even wanted to try to argue with her. Leaving the kitchen and entering the living room, Nero collapses onto the couch and the kids swarm him to tell him about what they’ve been up to. In just five short minutes he sank into the couch like quicksand and his muscles turned to stone. Maybe he should have given this ‘relaxing’ thing a try weeks ago. He can’t remember the last time he wasn’t worrying over something, letting his mind go blank as the kids talked about school and showed him their drawings. He was just about ready to take a nap right here, when he heard a commotion come from the garage.

“...WHAT IS THAT SM- EW! WHAT THE FU- IS THAT A- GET OUT, GET OUT!” Nero’s eyes snapped open when he heard Nico freak out from the garage. He was praying that she was just getting frustrated over a faulty part or a botched welding job. When a gunshot echoed through the house, Nero was already throwing himself down the stairs towards the garage without even remembering getting off the couch. He crashed hard at the bottom of the stairwell, his body not quite catching up to his mind. Shoving himself off the ground and towards the door, he kicks it open and throws his hand to the holstered Blue Rose hanging from the wall next to it.

“Nico!” Nero pulls Blue Rose free and immediately scans the garage for an intruder. He finds Nico taking cover behind the van with her own revolver handy. She turns to face him and points around her cover.

“Nasty thing hiding behind the front wheels!” She warns, peeking out to take another shot. Nero doesn’t waste any time and rushes to the front of the van, feeling the gun heat up in his hand as it charges up. Nero rounds the corner of the van and pulls the hammer back, ready to blast whatever he finds.

“Don’t shoot!” Nero hesitates and keeps his finger from squeezing the trigger. Most demons weren’t articulate enough to beg for mercy. “Don’t shoot the messenger!” Letting the charge die, Nero brings his gun up to actually look down at what he was about to shoot.

He really wishes he didn’t.

Curled up in cover was an absolutely disgusting creature that left a visible trail leading up to the van. It looked like some sort of bug, or walking pimple or something. Nero couldn’t blame Nico for the way she reacted to this thing, he was backing away in case the thing decided to snot all over his boots. “I come offering a summons from the demon king.”

“Is that walking booger talking?!” Nico peeks out around her corner of the van and gags at the sight of the thing.

“Summons?” Nero ignores Nico’s question, suddenly interested in whatever this thing wanted.

“From the demon king, yes!” The creature nodded vigorously. “He requests your audience!” It took Nero a little while to process what he was hearing, but the moment things clicked, he knew his day of peace and quiet was over before it started.

“You’re talking about my father, aren’t you.” Since the one surprisingly nice evening a few weeks ago, Vergil had once again disappeared. Dante was the only one who could vouch for him on his whereabouts, but Nero wasn’t quite sure he could trust his uncle with that information. Vergil coming out of hiding by having a demon come to his home with a message instead of showing up himself didn’t make things any better.

“Vergil Sparda has requested your presence, Nero Sparda.” The booger bug replies, bowing its head. “He eagerly awaits your arrival in the woods just north of town. He urges you to prepare yourself and to set out as swiftly as you can.” And now Nero’s head is reeling again. Could his father not make it? Was he in trouble and this… _thing_ was his only way of calling out for help? “That is all.” The bug bows once more.

“Is my father ok?!” Nero demands, needing more than what he was given. “What does he need me for?”

“He did not say.” The bug responds, stepping away from him. “But he is not far, you may ask him yourself. My job here is done, I shall take my leave.” Before Nero can question him any further, the demon makes a surprisingly hasty retreat, leaving another trail behind him as he flees out the open garage door.

They really gotta keep that thing closed.

“Nero?!” Nero’s head snaps around to find Kyrie leaning into the garage to check in on him and Nico. “Is everything ok? What happened?” She relaxes slightly at the sight of Nico fearlessly running up to the garage door to peek out underneath it, the danger is outside now.

“Just can’t catch a break, can I?” Nero shakes his head and holsters Blue Rose before looking back to Kyrie. “Guess we’re pushing my day off back.” He says with a sigh. “I have something I need to check out.” Kyrie looks dejected to see him run off again, but Nero rushes over to the door to plant a kiss on her lips before she gets the chance to frown. “When I get back, I’ll sleep like the dead if you want me to.” That brings the smile back.

“Just make it back quickly.” Kyrie pleads. “But don’t push yourself any more than you need to.”

“I’ll be back soon, I promise.” With one more goodbye kiss, Nero turns to face Nico who was eyeing the nasty trail the demon left behind, no doubt dreading having to clean it. Sticking her foot out to tap at the trail, her boot sticks to it and she has to peel it away. She breaks into an uncontrollable shudder at how nasty it was. “Nico, I need the keys!”

“That mean you’re going out alone?” Nico asks while reaching into her pocket and tossing him the key.

“Yeah, this is personal.” Nero nods. “You get the sword put away?”

“It’s all packed up in a case behind your seat. You’ll have to assemble it when you get to wherever you’re going, but we made sure it works.” Psyching himself up, Nero climbs into the van while Nico gets the garage door open. “And be careful on the road! I don’t want you scratching the paint, got it?!”

“What do you care if I dent the van?!” Nero rolls down the window to ask. “You _intentionally_ run things over every chance you get!”

“Because I’m not the one running things over!” Nico spats back. “Just don’t go ramming into a tree at full speed or something.” Nero revs up the van and leaves the house before Nico could change her mind. She didn’t have any complaints when she wanted someone to drive her back home after a few drinks. As he pulls out into the street, he takes note of the dark clouds rolling in. A storm was approaching.

Nero takes a quick glance at the large case leaning against the passenger seat. At least it would get a test drive, but against what he didn’t know. He just hopes he doesn’t have to use it to stop Vergil if he’s up to something stupid.

\---

‘In the woods north of Fortuna’ were _VERY_ vague directions. There weren't any landmarks or coordinates along with the summons. Nero drove aimlessly along the available dirt paths through the woods, wondering if he’ll be able to find his destination.

Then he felt him.

Waves of energy washing over him as he drove, his father was close. Pulling the van to a stop in a small clearing beside the dirt path, Nero kills the engine and takes a deep breath. Getting out of his seat and marching to the back of Nico’s workshop, he stocks up on as many breakers as he could carry. He wanted him to come prepared, he’s gonna come prepared. Snapping an Overture over his cuff, Nero grabs hold of the large case holding his sword before leaving the van.

The case weighs heavily on his shoulder as he stomps through the woods towards the unmistakable aura of his father. As he ducks under branches and hops over roots, his mind races over the various possible situations he could be walking into, flip flopping between the worst possible outcome and genuine calls for help. Nero tries desperately to shut his brain off as he makes the trek.

Thunder starts to rumble across the forest as Nero finds a large clearing in the middle of the woods.

Waiting for him on the other end of the clearing is his father.

He wasn’t being assaulted or held prisoner by any demons, nor did he look ready to assault him. His father had his back turned and he was lounging on a cheap looking plastic chair, reading through his book of poetry. Nero is left questioning if this was some sort of prank when Vergil looks over his shoulder.

“You showed up.” He doesn’t get out of his chair, instead he returns his attention back to his book. “I suppose that means Magnus was successful in delivering my message?”

“Is there a reason why you decided to send a demon to my house unannounced instead of showing up in person?” Nero demands. The last time Nero saw his father, he was remarkably close to a normal person. Being reacquainted with him reminded him just how cold and aloof his father was in his natural habitat.

“To test the demon's effectiveness and your receptibility to him.” Vergil replies, closing his book and standing up out of his chair. “I am proud to announce you both passed remarkably well and in good time.” The one thing that takes some of the edge out of Nero is the fact that his father seems to be in a good mood. He wasn’t smiling of course, but he also wasn’t trying to kill him with a glare.

“Well? I’m here, what do you want?” Nero throws his arms wide, wondering why he packed all his stuff on a moment's notice.

“I want to fulfil my promise.” Vergil announces, grabbing hold of his chair and tossing out of the clearing before drawing Yamato. “I want a rematch!” Ok, _now_ Vergil was smiling, and it freaked Nero the hell out.

“A rematch?!” Nero balked.

“We have no more distractions, no more looming apocalypse to worry over.” Vergil explains. “I told you I would challenge you again, and that I wouldn’t lose. What do you say?” Vergil points the tip of the blade towards Nero as a bolt of lightning pierces the darkening sky.

“You called me out here on my day off just to fight me?!” Nero couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Out of all the crazy, insane scenario’s his brain managed to come up with on the drive here, he would have never come up with something so stupid and simple. “You mean to tell me you’ve been gone for the past three weeks planning this fight?!”

“I’ve spent one week preparing for this.” Vergil corrects. “I’ve been handling other matters, but I wanted to keep my half of the bargain in exchange for you returning my book.” Oh great, so that ‘mysterious, possibly evil plan’ is still a thing to worry about. “Are you afraid to lose?”

“No!” Nero replies, hating how defensive his voice sounded as he did. “I don’t want to fight, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends for a month! I don’t want to get dragged into whatever fucked up sparring matches you and Dante have going on.”

“I have been hard at work as well.” Vergil retorts, as if that made his plans any less ominous. “You know, my father taught us how to spar when we were only six.” That… that explained a lot actually. “He taught us the basics and helped us master the techniques we still use to this day. If it weren’t for his training, no amount of demonic might would have saved us from the endless armies of Mundus.” Vergil tilts his sword along with his head. “What do you say, want to continue a Sparda family tradition?”

“I wanna smack you in the face for scaring the shit out of my family just to come out and ask for a fight!” Nero snaps back.

“That’s exactly what I’m offering you.” Vergil counters with a smirk. “This is your chance to air out any unspoken grievances.” Nero stares his father down, nose flaring with each forced breath, before throwing his case down and cracking into it. Throwing the case open, Nero grabs hold of the hilt and begins assembling the sword. Seeing his father wait patiently for him to take up a fighting stance, Nero tries to clear some things up.

“Any rules for this fight?” Nero asks. “Nothing below the belt? A fight to see who draws first blood?” In between each of these questions, Nero snaps another component of his new blade into place.

“I trust you aren’t a cheater like your buffoon of an uncle.” Vergil states. “And I want to see you at your absolute best. No holds barred. No limitations on powers or techniques. We fight until we surrender or can no longer stand.” Nero keeps glancing up at him in between construction and tries to decipher what that smirk on his face is supposed to mean. “Lets see if your victory on the qliphoth was a fluke or not.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is.” Nero scoffs. “I made you eat dirt a year ago and now you want seconds!” He couldn’t wait to wipe that dumb smirk off his face. “So, is this just a vain attempt to get even, or is there a prize at the end of this stupid competition?”

“I see you’re still not taking this as seriously as I like.” Vergil grumbles, but still doesn’t lose the smirk. “Perhaps you need a little motivation.”

“If you win, I will let you in on what I’ve been planning.”

Nero stops mouthing back immediately and puts all of his focus and attention into his sword. As far as he’s concerned, this fight was set up just to save his fathers ego. No doubt he has a million excuses for why he lost on the qliphoth, and that's if he thinks he lost at all. But now? Now Vergil is dangling the one thing that’s been keeping him awake at night over him like a carrot on a string, and he hates that it’s working. The smug bastard probably thinks he won’t lose, but he’s going to make sure he holds his end of the bargain when he’s sprawled out on the grass.

Screwing the pommel into place, Nero heaves up his newest sword and rests it against his shoulder before kicking the case aside. Vergil immediately takes notice.

“I see you’ve replaced your old sword.” He observes. “It looks… unwieldy.” That was an understatement. This sword was completely unusable unless wielded by someone with demonic strength. There was a reason it was built in parts, Nico wouldn’t have been able to lift the thing as a whole. It was her idea to make it this big though, she wanted to make good on her promise that she would be able to make a sword that was better than the legendary blades wielded by the sons of Sparda.

And it was time to put that theory to the test.

“This,” Nero lifts the sword high into the air. “Is Chimera Credo.” Nero presents the oversized curved blade in all its glory, named after the general and close friend that bestowed the original Red Queen to Nero during the first Fortuna disaster. The blade was ornately decorated in silver and gold and running along the entire length of the blunt end of the sword was a mass of contraptions both mechanical and demonic. Nico would have killed to see the blade in action.

At least Vergil would be able to experience all the tricks and secrets buried in the various moving parts of the blade for himself. Scratch that, he’ll learn what it’s like to be on the other end of it.

“So, you brought along some new toys for this round.” Vergil readies his sword again and takes on a fighting stance. “I’ve learned a few new tricks myself.” That smirk finally fades from Vergil’s lips and is replaced with a look of pure concentration and focus. Nero Takes the moment to make sure his Blue Rose was loaded and lets a few sparks fly from his Overture to make sure everything is in working order. Letting the sword fall from his shoulder, the blade sinks effortlessly into the dirt in front of him as he pulls a crank along the back of the blade and revs the engines.

The clouds above them finally break and rain starts to fall.

“Ready to eat dirt, old man?”

“Don’t expect me to coddle you through your tantrum when you lose.”

With a flash of lightning and a crack of thunder, both of the demon hunters charged.


	2. The Second Duel

The fight didn’t properly start until after they clashed blades. It was the swordsman's way of touching gloves, the clash of steel standing in for the ring of the bell.

It also cemented just how difficult this was actually going to be for Vergil.

He didn’t actually go into this fight believing this would be a cake walk. His son had a power he didn’t fully understand, one he wanted to see in a controlled environment. His snarkiness was a means to that end, he wanted to get under his son's skin, force him to act out with more power than he might have wanted.

But this sword was not something he was expecting.

He hadn’t forgotten the loss of his previous sword, Nero was forced to take Yamato to finish the fight. He knew a replacement was in order, but he wasn’t expecting Nero to show up with something so drastically different. The moment he felt the impact of the heavy blade against Yamato, he knew that this battle would be a challenge. That thing could hardly be called a sword, and judging by the strained face Nero makes to lift it again, he’s solely relying on gravity to do most of the work. This battle would be a test of endurance for the both of them unless Vergil stayed on the defensive.

Vergil leaped back as Nero pushed off him and raised the blade up to swing again. As dangerous as that sword was, it was nowhere near as swift or maneuverable. Nero brings the massive blade down hard, but with nothing to smash into it sinks deep into the ground, leaving Nero to struggle to pull it free. Vergil takes the opportunity to charge forward and thrash him over the head with his saya.

“Foolishness!” Vergil barks out as he makes another hasty retreat as Nero rips the blade free and takes a swing at him. “You could barely keep up with me before, I can see your every move before you even get close to hitting me!” Nero doesn’t snap back at him, he simply lets the sword rest at his side and stares him down.

Reaching his robotic arm up the length of the blade, he grabs hold of a lever running along the back of it and pulls it down. There is a loud metallic clunk as exhaust ports fall from a compartment and lock into place. Nero twists the handle of the Chimera Credo and the familiar sound of an engine roars to life within the sword.

“The speed boost you’re trying to achieve by doing that will be negligible at best.” Vergil says, readying himself for the assault that would soon follow. Nero’s left himself completely open to attack while revving up, Vergil could swiftly end this battle right here if he wanted to, but the confident determination in his son's eyes tells him he’s hiding something.

Nero began rushing after him, revving up the sword as he went. Vergil readies himself to parry the blow, but he knows something is about to happen. His son was not foolish enough to just swing blindly, Vergil steels himself for anything. Squeezing down on the release, Nero’s sword guns it forward and he struggles to hold on to it as he starts to spin. Eventually, Nero's feet actually lift off the ground and he goes flying with the sword as it rips through the air like a chopper blade, turning him into a spinning top of flames and sharpened steel. Vergil shifts his grip on the Yamato and prepares himself to deflect the blow. If he can position himself just right, he’ll be able to send the boy flying without a single scratch on him.

However, moments before Nero made contact, a loud crack sounds out and something tore through Vergil’s hip.

The sudden pain causes Vergil’s grip to waver, forcing him to simply guard against the attack rather than parry. It doesn’t end well for him. Nero collides into him with the force of the van he drove in on. The pain shooting up his side makes it impossible to stand his ground and he goes flying with the impact, and it's only a second later as he’s trying to hit the ground that he realizes Nero is flying with him. Vergil isn’t given a single moment to think before Nero takes his robotic hand off his sword and shoves it into his face.

The resulting discharge of electricity shoots Vergil straight into the ground as Nero continues to soar through the air before skidding to a halt farther down the clearing. Nero gets back to his feet after scoffing at the grass stains and mud that now covers his body. 

“What was that?!” He cups his hand around his ear, shouting back at his father who now lay prone on the ground. “I thought I heard something about that attack being pointless? Didn't look like you expected that!” At the sound of his taunting, Vergil pushes himself off of the ground. A few strands of hair have broken from his perfectly swept back hairdo which he swiftly slicks back into position, leaving streaks of mud through his white hair. Despite the fact that he just had his head smashed into the ground, there was still a hint of a smirk on his face. “What’re you smiling about?!”

“It’s been a while since I’ve been caught so thoroughly off guard.” Vergil huffs. “I think I’ve actually gotten weaker fighting Dante over the years. I’m still expecting you to pull all of his usual tricks.” Getting back to his feet and cracking his neck, he’s ready to continue the fight as if nothing happened. “I haven’t had this much fun in ages!”

“Yeah, glad to see you’re enjoying yourself. _You masochist._ ” Nero mutters under his breath as he pulls a bolt back along the guard of his sword. As he does, a large casing is freed from the guard and Nero reaches into his pocket to load an extra round into the chamber. As stupid as the idea of putting a gun in the sword sounded, it worked as flawlessly as Nico described it would. He would let her just go wild on her inventions if a good chunk of them didn’t explode in his face.

“If you’re done showing off,” Vergil challenges. “Then I think it’s my turn.” Vergil sheathes his Yamato and becomes a blur of motion rushing towards him. Kicking the back of his blade to help lift it off the ground, Nero brings up his sword to push back against what he believes to be a running slash with the Yamato.

He doesn’t expect him to bring down a completely different sword from overhead.

Nero doesn’t have enough time to fully bring up his sword to guard and the new blade Vergil pulled from seemingly nowhere sinks about an inch into his shoulder. Throwing a quick glance at it reveals that it’s a summoned sword, a _big_ one. Shit, can he just summon and throw swords that big now?! Best to not give him a chance. Twisting the blade in his hands, Nero positions the guard till its facing Vergil and twists the cuff that connects it to the handle. The moment the gun within the guard goes off, Vergil vanishes and takes the pressure off. 

Wasting no time, Nero shifts his weight and heaves the blade over his shoulder, revving as he goes. Just as he planned, Vergil comes speeding in from behind, bringing his sword up for an underhand swing. Hitting the gas just as the blade starts to fall, Chimera Credo rockets into the ground at a blazing speed, catching the summoned blade as it rises and shattering it into little blue shards.

Vergil’s eyes go wide as he leaps back from Nero’s upswing, straining to form a new blade to replace the one he lost. Nero doesn’t give him an inch and revs his sword again for another charge. Sure his sword didn’t offer the agility he would have liked, but as long as he was moving he was an unstoppable force which would cleave anything that got close in two.

And that was just the basic functions of Chimera Credo. Now was about as good a time as any to try out some of its new features.

His father was giving him plenty of space which allowed him to bring his sword to a stop. Grabbing hold of the lever along the back of the sword, Nero pushes it up two notches.

The exhaust ports fold back into their own compartments as coils extend from from a new compartment next to the lever. He was going to be sacrificing even more speed but he’s got Vergil on edge now, he’d think twice before charging in for what he thought was an easy hit. That was a good thing too, it took time to get this thing loaded and calibrated.

Vergil, not wanting to get close enough for Nero to take a swing at him, begins to pace around him, letting loose a few small summoned swords. Oh thank the saviour, he can only shoot tiny swords. Nero quickly draws his Blue Rose to shoot down the swords as his own slowly powers up in his other hand. He fires his three available shots before his gun runs dry, leaving one blade flying through the air right at him with Vergil quickly closing the distance behind it. He’d have to retreat or deal with both of them.

Hope this thing has enough juice now.

Lifting the sword back up and pulling the release, Nero spins around and uses the momentum to swing the sword as fast as he can. The coils sticking out of the back of the sword light up as Nero gives it power, sparks flying out the back. With one more powerful swing, all the built up energy releases at once, forming into a concentrated wave of electricity flying free from his sword. The electric projectile obliterates Vergil's last summoned sword and forces him to disengage to avoid being fried.

“How many secrets does that blasted contraption hold?!” Vergil barks out from a safe distance. Nero breaks into a smile, now _he’s_ starting to enjoy this.

“You’re gonna have to give me a reason to show them all off old man!” Nero shouts back, taking the time to pull the lever back on his sword to bring out the exhaust ports again. “I got barely a scratch on me!”

“Alright fine.” Vergil scoffs, running another hand through his hair to clear the rain water and mud out. “Warm up’s over. Time to see what you’re really made of.” Oh, so that’s the game he’s going with here. It sure looked like he was trying when he was diving for safety after every swing. If pissing him off was his goal, it wasn’t working. Nero could practically hear the desperation in his fathers voice.

“I’m right here!” Nero taunts. “Come get me!” Heaving up his sword to rest on his shoulder and giving it gas, Nero watches as Vergil begins to slowly approach. Yamato still sits snug in its sheath at Vergil’s side, he advances empty handed, leaving what he’ll pull once he’s close enough to attack a mystery. Shit, now it was Nero’s turn to figure out what nonsense his father would pull out of his ass. The wieldable summoned sword was new, how many other techniques did he learn over his year long vacation in hell?

Hitting the gas and letting the sword pull him off his feet, Nero rips through the air in the general direction of his father, shifting his weight to allow him to bring the sword down onto him. As he spirals through the air in a whirlwind of flame, Vergil changes course and breaks into a sprint, charging closer towards the heavy blade. His hands are still empty. Eventually, gravity begins pulling Nero back down to the ground, sending him plummeting straight towards the Dark Slayer. Only moments before impact, Vergil finally acted by leaping straight up, a flash of light encasing his hands and feet.

Chimera Credo hits the ground with a loud, wet thud. Huge chunks of the field heave themselves from the ground and splatter mud in every direction. Unfortunately, Vergil wasn’t under the sword when it hit the ground, he was above it. He drops down on top of the sword before Nero gets the chance to pull it free and swing again. Running along the length of the blade, Vergil winds up and kicks Nero in the face with the steel toe of Beowulf before leaping off the blade.

Nero’s head snaps back with the strike, blood filling his mouth from his busted teeth. He pulls his hands away from his sword, leaving it embedded in the ground to clamp his hands over his mouth. Vergil doesn’t give him any space to recover though, swooping in and placing himself between Nero and his sword. Vergil takes a swing at him and Nero throws up his right arm up to guard. To his surprise, Overture doesn’t get cut into two clean pieces, it’s completely obliterated as Vergil’s own fist encased in metal plows straight through it.

Vergil continues to press the attack, fists flying in blinding streaks of white. Nero does his best to dodge or deflect the blows, but the powerful devil arm wielded by his father is too much for him to withstand. He was unarmed and being pummeled to shit, he was sure he could feel the bones in his arms breaking. Each blow sent pain hammering into his head, building pressure until everything forced itself out all at once.

“BACK OFF!” Nero’s devil trigger practically detonated upon activation, sending Vergil reeling back. Nero saw that one moment of weakness and went for the throat, lashing out his claws and wings to tear him open before he could get away. Vergil is unsteady on his feet, stumbling backwards while trying to fight off the flurry of swipes Nero is taking at him with Yamato. Nero curses as Vergil manages to leap backwards, flinging himself just out of range of his claws. Thinking fast, Nero’s hand shoots down to his hip to draw Blue Rose to fire off a shot. 

Before he can pull the trigger however, he’s caught completely by surprise as a spectral blue hand clamps down on the barrel and yanks his revolver from his hands. The shock stops Nero in his tracks as he watches his gun fly through the air and into the waiting hands of his father. Following the wispy blue trail of energy that stole it from him, he finds something familiar clutched in his fathers hand.

Was that... Was that his devil bringer? Was that his fucking arm?!

“It’s about time you started taking this seriously!” Vergil huffs out, slightly out of breath. Vergil doesn’t bother slicking his now let down hair back, instead he focuses on the gun he managed to snatch from his son. Nero watches as his devil bringer dissolves, revealing Yamato once again. “What are you waiting for?” Vergil asks with a smirk “I’m right here, come get me!”

Words completely fail Nero as he charges forward as fast as he can, his wings beating fast and hard behind him to increase his speed. Vergil wanted to see his best? He was going to fucking get it!

Vergil holds his ground and takes aim with Nero’s own revolver. The first shot he takes catches him by surprise as he’s hit with the recoil, but he proceeds to empty the cylinder as Nero continues to charge, sending a few summoned swords along with the bullets for good measure. Nero ducks and weaves through most of the projectiles and cups his wings in front of him to take some hits to allow himself to click a new breaker over his right arm, Gerbera.

Using his breaker to launch himself in the air, Nero makes a dive straight for his father, voicing his unbridled rage in a scream as he descends. Vergil still holds his ground, tossing Blue Rose aside to rest his hand over Yamato’s hilt. He was going to take Nero head on and counter his blind dive.

Too bad Nero wasn’t diving for him.

With an extra flap of his wings, Nero flies just over his father and crashes into the ground behind him, right next to Chimera Credo. Wrapping both of his hands and his wings around the handle, Nero exerts all of his demonic strength to rip the sword out of the ground and slash behind him. Nero on his own couldn’t swing the sword from a dead stop to do much damage, but with the extra hands and strength, he was able to slash through the air as if he were swinging something as weightless as a razor. Evidently, it’s too fast for Vergil to react and Nero barks out in victory as the massive blade slashes across Vergil’s back, spraying the mud soaked ground with blood.

Vergil stumbles forward, throwing out his hands to keep him on his knees. Yamato hits the mud next to him as he's too hurt to keep his grip on it. Nero doesn’t hesitate and rushes in to finish him, Vergil didn't give him a chance to breathe, he wouldn’t give him the space either. Before Nero can bring the blade down, a flash of blue appears between him and his father. Chimera Credo clashes against the summoned blade of Vergil’s doppelganger.

Vergil tries to crawl away for safety as his doppelganger holds Nero off. His healing is working at an unsustainable pace, that one slice very nearly rended him apart! He might have gone a bit too far with his taunting. He wanted to fuel the fire that drives Nero, but clearly he’s added too much and got burned for his trouble. Using his own son's arm against him probably wasn’t the best decision he’s ever made. Whatever, he’s still got this under control. Vergil pushes himself to his feet once he’s sure his top half isn’t going to fall off and turns around to survey the battlefield.

It doesn’t look too good.

For one, his doppelganger has just lost the fight. It was currently being impaled by Nero’s sword and heaved over his head to be slammed down into the ground behind him. The doppelganger is obliterated in a shower of blue sparks and mud as Nero’s blade crashes into the ground. Nero’s head snaps around and two burning eyes of yellow stare at Vergil. Vergil steps back and reaches for the sword on his hip to find with a gasp that it isn’t there. His eyes dart around the field until he finds Yamato lying on the ground, and Nero follows his gaze until his eyes land on the sword as well.

Both make a mad dash to get it.

It was a stupid idea for both of them to charge for the sword, but Vergil _needed_ to make sure Nero didn’t get his hands on it. Were it anyone else, Vergil would simply watch as his opponent stole what they thought was a guaranteed victory. When they realized the sword would not answer to them, he would obliterate them with extreme prejudice for even attempting to use his own power against him. Nero wasn’t a lowly demon however, he already has a connection with Yamato, it sees him as its rightful heir. Nero has already proved that with Yamato’s power, he could slay the demon king Mundus. He did _not_ want to go up against that.

Vergil’s already exhausted a lot of his energy trying to heal and buy himself time but he makes one more push to secure his sword. Reaching out, he forces the flow of time around them to a screeching halt to buy a few precious seconds. Those few seconds are all he can manage however, he loses his grip on the flow of time as his body runs on empty reserves. With one last desperate dive, Vergil slides along the rain slicked grass and clasps his hand around his precious Yamato. He got it first!

Unfortunately, Nero wasn’t after the sword.

With no energy left to dodge, Vergil watches helplessly as Nero reels back his foot as he prepares to punt his head like a football. Vergil can feel something crack in his jaw as Nero smashes his foot into his chin at full force, causing him to fly backwards with the impact. He tries to hold onto Yamato as he flies back, but Nero rips it from his grip, clawing up his forearm and hand as he does.

He hits the ground with a pathetic plop, lying flat on his back and letting the rain fall down on his face. His hair hangs loose over his eyes as he brings a hand up to snap his jaw back into place. Slowly leaning forward to get back up, Vergil looks upon the empowered form of his son.

Nero still retained his devil trigger, using all four of his available hands to wield the massive Chimera Credo, which still holds secrets he hasn’t seen yet. Manifesting over his shoulder now was the massive spectre that helped him defeat the old demon king, wielding Yamato in one hand and its own copy in the other. This was his son's true power, the source of which was still just out of Vergil’s reach. Struggling to his feet, Vergil tries to catch his breath as his son lords over him.

“I’m starting to feel bad! You know you can give it up whenever you want?” Nero revs up his sword, emphasizing just how painful the next clash would be without a sturdy sword to rely on. He was being absolutely merciless, as a descendant of Sparda should. “Don’t got any more comebacks?!” Nero continues trying to get a rise out of him, but Vergil ignores his jabs.

Calling upon the demon within him, Vergil brings forth the full power of his own devil trigger. Holding out each of his hands, he summons manifestations of both his preferred swords; Yamato and Force Edge. Beowulf’s greaves clamp down around his legs as Vergil readies himself for battle once more.

“You’re a stubborn old bastard, has anyone told you that?” Nero taunts one last time before taking up a fighting stance of his own. Though it was hard to tell through the sharp teeth and rippling energy emanating off of them, both of them had broken into wicked grins as they stared each other down. It’s been too long since they’ve had a fight this intense, both of them were pushing each other to their absolute limits and they weren’t going to stop until those limits were broken.

At the sound of rolling thunder, both demon hunters charge forward and make a violent clash in the center of the field. Both begin trading blows almost evenly, Nero’s raw strength breaking through Vergil’s guard but Vergil’s precision scores multiple deep cuts in between swings. They continue the onslaught even as they begin taking unsustainable damage, their powers beginning to ebb away from their bodies. Vergil’s summoned blades shatter against the now burning hot steel of Chimera Credo, but Nero is too winded to continue swinging it. Vergil even manages to separate Nero from Yamato, cutting him off from his spectre's power source. Eventually they’re left with their fists, Vergil’s encased in demonic metal and Nero’s robotic limb being boosted by rocket propulsion. Both rush forward to deal the finishing blow and their fists graze each other before crashing into each other's teeth, sending both father and son reeling.

As Vergil's head snaps back, his vision begins to blur and darken around the edges, his rattled mind trying desperately to work under duress. The pain starts to take him and Vergil begins to fall backwards towards the ground, but Nero reaches out and grabs his arm before he could fall. Perhaps it was due to the multiple blows to the head he had just sustained, but for a moment, he thought Nero was helping him up to continue fighting. When he was pulled in closer and Nero’s wings sank their claws into his arm, he knew this wasn’t an act of mercy.

Nero began to spin him around, his claws digging deeper to make sure Vergil didn’t slip out of his grip. Somewhere along the way, Nero snatches up Yamato from the ground again to allow the spectral devil to assist him. Once they pick up enough speed, Nero lets Vergil go, sending him flying through the air until he crashes into a tree, his back nearly breaking with the impact.

Slicing through the air at a similar speed is Yamato, which pierces his chest and pins him against the tree.

Vergil’s devil trigger slips away as he tries desperately to pull the blade free from his chest. With how quickly his strength faded away, he struggled to pull the blade out of the wood behind him and it was only fading faster as his body tried to heal his wounds. Looking up, Nero falls to one knee, his own devil trigger fading away.

“I win!” He barks out, completely out of breath and ready to collapse. He still tries to keep himself on his feet however, he wanted to be the last one standing. “Tap out now and I’ll pull you down.” They were both on their last legs, and through the blinding pain ripping through his chest, Vergil could feel something else thrumming in his chest; pride. When did his son become so powerful? As much as he applauded Nero for how strong he became since he last dueled him, this wasn’t over.

Vergil didn’t plan on losing this fight.

“Don’t… celebrate too early.” Vergil coughs up as he reaches out and grabs hold of Yamato’s hilt. “I can still fight!”

“Doesn’t look like it to me!” Nero barks back, getting back onto his feet and grabbing hold of Chimera Credo again. He barely had any fight left in him, but he sure as hell had enough to knock his father back down if he insisted on continuing. “Just give it up!”

“To Mercy, Pity… Peace and Love!” Vergil chokes out as he strains to get a good grip on the blade. “All pray in their distress;” Rather than pulling the blade out, Nero watches in shock as Vergil actually pulls the sword deeper into his chest. “And to these virtues of delight return their thankfulness!”

Vergil twists the blade in his own chest and Nero is blinded by a flash of white.

There’s an explosion of energy that sends the wind and the rain whipping into Nero’s face, forcing him to look away to shield his eyes. Straining his eyes to look back to where his father was once pinned, he finds the Dark Slayer and his sword have suddenly vanished, leaving behind a large stain of blood against the wood to be washed away in the rain. Nero tries to puzzle together what just happened when a voice finishes the poem his father started. It wasn’t the nasally grumble his father spoke in, it was a relaxed and melodic voice that speaks out, one that was immediately identifiable to the young devil hunter.

“For Mercy has a human heart,  
Pity a human face,  
And Love, the human form divine,  
And Peace, a human dress.”

Nero whips around, revving his sword to prepare for round two, when a bolt of lightning strikes him down where he stood, sapping away what little energy he had left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The battle has only just begun.
> 
> I wanted to take this time to talk more about the Chimera Credo real quick and what the creative process was behind making it.
> 
> Nero's fighting style is very different from the sons of Sparda. While Dante uses his superhuman speed and strength to swing great swords around like they weigh nothing and Vergil sticks with traditional sword fighting martial arts, Nero just goes absolutely wild. He struggles to hold onto Red Queen as he throws his entire body into every swing, some moves even lift him off his feet entirely. Nero goes all in with every single attack, and Chimera Credo was made to exaggerate that aspect of his fighting style. It takes herculean effort to even get the sword moving, but once it does, it doesn't stop. Something that heavy and sharp moving that fast could probably fell whole tree's in one slash.
> 
> Now for the 'Chimera' part in Chimera Credo's design. Before the devil breakers, Nero lacked variety in his arsenal. Red Queen and Blue Rose do a lot of heavy lifting, but he can't compete against the massive pile of demonic weapons Dante has stockpiled. Rather than creating multiple weapons to switch between, Nero and Nico worked together to integrate some of the breaker technology into one sword. Various compartments and machines are built into the blunted end of the curved sword with a large crank jutting out the back to switch between them. The Red Queen's exceed system is present by default, but there are also many other settings which alter the swords function and imbues it with different elemental abilities.
> 
> And if that wasn't complicated enough, Nico of course followed through with her idea of shoving a gun into it somehow.
> 
> I hope it can live up to the legacy Red Queen set before it.


	3. An Indecisive Victory

Nero’s knees buckle under him as electricity forces his muscles to contort as his nerves fry. He collapses onto the ground, curling up to try and keep his body from spasming as he watches his breaker short out and eventually die on him. It takes a few moments before feeling returns to his fingers again but it's agony to try and push himself off the ground. Hearing footsteps approach him, Nero slowly lifts his head from the ground to stare up at an impossible sight.

Sinking his cane into the ground and leaning on it, V leers over him and sweeps his hair back.

“I told you I had a few tricks up my sleeve.” The frail looking poet chuckles to himself as Nero tries fruitlessly to push himself back onto his feet. He didn’t look quite like his old self though, he’s gone through a few changes since he returned to himself over a year ago. His tattoo’s were faded and were only really noticeable around his hands and feet, his once thick head of black hair was now stark white with dark streaks running through it. Not to mention, he didn’t seem as fragile anymore, was there a gym in whatever void he was banished to when Vergil was remade?

“I… I can still-!” Nero tries to push himself up but his legs refuse to carry his weight. He falls back down to the ground and V tuts with displeasure.

“Perhaps we should have set up a ten count rule.” V mumbles to himself. “This will never end at this rate.”

“What…” Nero takes in one last desperate gasp of air before forcing himself onto one knee. “What the hell are you doing here?! Why did you separate yourself again?!” V leans casually on his cane, wearing a smirk that wasn’t as unfamiliar on _his_ face as it was on the original Vergil’s. As he does, Nero notices that the back of his neck was still heavily inked up. Unlike his other tattoos, this one almost completely covered his back, the empty space where his pale skin still peeked out making up the design.

“To get some fresh air.” V chuckles. “Though in all seriousness, I’ve grown fond of this form over time. I resented my pitiful human self when I was first cast aside by Urizen, but even with my lack of power, I still managed to thrive and become stronger. As you can see, I’m not nearly as feeble anymore.” Nero had taken notice. He didn’t look like a stiff breeze could knock him over anymore. “Humans have a unique source of strength that I’ve been trying to tap, what better way to discover it than to limit myself to the human form once again.”

“Well…” V gives Nero some space as he struggles to his feet. He’s still twitchy from the lighting strike, but he’s able to stand again. “Don’t think I’m going to go easy on you now.”

“Oh don’t even think about it!” V kicks up his cane and holds it at his side. “We’ve both made the mistake of underestimating each other, haven’t you learned your lesson yet?” HA! So he admits it, he’s been struggling to keep up! Nero’s got him on the ropes! “If you’re eager to lose, then go right ahead. Put an end to this battle right now.” V takes a bow and throws his arms wide, taunting him and daring him to take the first swing.

Ok Nero, think! This is obviously bait and he shouldn’t go for it… but what the hell is V gonna do? He hasn’t summoned any of his familiars yet and it's obvious that this V is different from the one he remembers. At the same time, unless V’s somehow learned how to summon swords of his own, all he has is his cane to defend himself. He had something up his non existent sleeves, best to play it safe.

Grabbing his sword from the ground, Nero stakes it into the ground and pushes the crank down a few notches until it gets to the demonic machines further down the blade. Giving it power, Nero feels the sword go cold in his hands. He sees V’s brow furrow as he tries to discern what he just did to his sword.

Shaking off the last of the pain in his legs, Nero charges forward with Chimera Credo dragging behind him. V hikes up his grip on his cane and prepares for Nero’s attack. Nero screams with effort as he heaves his sword over his shoulder and slams it down onto the ground in front of him, about five feet short of hitting V. Not bothering to rev it up, Nero instead channels some of his remaining demonic energy into the sword. Nero watches as the ground in front of him starts to heave, causing V to look down at his feet with a shock.

V leaps away as a large circle of ice shoots out of the ground right where he was standing.

He hits the ground rolling, coming up quick and holding up his cane in a defensive position as Nero tries to take advantage of the distraction. Nero closes the distance quickly and swings Chimera Credo with all his might at the poet. Two things happen at that moment. First; Nero’s swing hits nothing and embeds itself into the ground next to him, causing more ice to rupture from the ground. Second; a sharp pain carves itself along Nero’s side, causing him to hunch over in pain.

“A clever plan.” Nero whips his head around to find V giving him a slow clap with bloodied hands. “You’ll have to try harder than that, however.” Shit! What did he even cut him with?! Looking at his cane, Nero finds no sign of blood.

Dumping more energy into his sword while it’s still stuck in the ground, Nero sends his attack burrowing through the ground towards V. The smug bastard’s still busy taunting him to notice until the ground beneath him breaks open. Another large cicle of ice shoots up from the earth and partially skewers V’s right arm, causing him to curse to himself and clutch his arm to his chest.

Ripping the crank back up to allow him to boost, Nero begins revving his sword and swinging it to get some momentum going. Hitting the gas to let the sword yank him through the air, Nero prepares himself to land on V sword first. Seeing his approach, V holds up his cane with two hands in a useless attempt to deflect the blow.

Or so Nero thought.

Before his sword gets to make contact, something runs along V’s hands and into the cane. A large black blade suddenly forms over the handle, catching Nero’s blade before suddenly being wrenched down. Chimera Credo sinks into the ground again, but now V’s cane with the shadowy mass pins it to the ground, keeping him from pulling it up.

Was that Shadow?!

Ditching the sword and clicking Rawhide over his cuff, Nero rushes forward and tries to flay V open with razor wire. The formation around his cane, which Nero is pretty sure is associated with the poet's former familiar, recedes back up into V’s arms and moves down to his feet. V begins sliding away as the shadows at his feet increase his movement speed, but Nero still manages to get a few cuts and grazes in. V brings up his cane to try and stop the whip but Nero manages to wrap the wire around it. Nero charges in to throw a punch to try and wrench the cane out of his hands when he notices something coming off of it; sparks.

Suddenly, electricity is conducted through the cane and up the wire around Nero’s arm. The shock he gets causes Nero to jump and howl in pain while simultaneously shorting out and destroying his breaker. That was Griffin's thing, not V’s! Eyes darting around the skyline, he saw no sign of the feather brain, it was all coming straight from V.

“What happened to your little friends?” Nero asks as he tries to shake off the pain running up his right arm.

“Long gone I’m afraid.” V solemnly explains once he’s put some distance between them. “They did not rejoin me when I became whole again and were doomed without my bindings to keep them alive. I later learned that they tried to stop Dante during his accent up the qliphoth, and that they had died so that the nightmares they represented would not be returned to me.” 

“Then what’s up with the powers? If they’re not a part of you, why do you have their abilities?” Nero asks, turning around to reclaim his sword.

“It’s true that the nightmares my familiar’s original forms left with me have vanished, my scars haven’t.” Demonstrating this, V holds up his cane and the remnants of his tattoo’s rush up to its head, forming a large scythe like blade. “The memories of my torture and captors are all gone, but I still remember the pain they inflicted on me. How does the saying go? What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?” Nero watches as one of the black streaks in V’s hair travels down his right arm and solidifies around the wound his ice left behind.

So, his familiars are gone but he still retains some of their powers for himself. That doesn’t explain the new coat of ink covering his back though, he still had one last trump card.

“I’m not feeling very strong right now.” Nero huffs. He’s not sure how long the fight has been going on, but he’s about ready to put an end to it, one way or another. He’s exhausted, hurt badly, waterlogged and covered in mud because of the rain. He wanted nothing more than to go back home and collapse into Kyrie’s arms.

But he wasn’t going to leave this fight empty handed. He _needed_ to know what Vergil was planning.

“Enough with the dramatic bullshit!” Nero readies his sword, letting his one motivator feed him strength to keep up the fight. “I know you have a familiar with you, I saw the ink on your back. Just bring them out and let me put an end to this!”

“Are you sure?” V seems dejected by Nero’s insistence to get this over with as fast as possible. “Where’s the fun in skipping straight to the climax?”

“I couldn’t give less of a shit anymore.” Nero growls. “Just bring them out!” V stares him down for a moment, trying on his best attempt at stern, fatherly disapproval.

“Fine.” He says with a sigh. “This will be your final challenge.” V holds out his cane in front of him vertically before letting it go. The cane doesn’t fall, it instead sits suspended in the air as V stands aside. Nero watches as the ink on V’s back begins to creep up his body before lifting off him completely towards the cane. The ink sticks to the cane and begins to build up, when the black ink begins to glow a faint red, a spike of shock runs up Nero’s spine.

Oh no…

The ink continues to clump up and gain color around the now spinning cane, hardening into crystal. Behind V, more of his ink begins to form behind him, creating a massive silhouette that Nero recognizes immediately.

This has to be some kind of joke!

“Did you think you saw the last of him? He’s still very much a part of me.” V comments as Nero stares in horror at the growing form behind him. “How about this. Neither of us will ever admit defeat on our own, so let's make an amendment to our rules. If you can defeat him, then I will declare you the victor.” That doesn’t make Nero feel any better about this situation. He only managed to get a scratch on the big fucker, now he’s expected to beat him?! Not to mention, this wasn’t the one he fought in the qliphoth, this is the one _Dante_ fought post power boost.

He had no chance of taking on Urizen.

“You are nothing but an insignificant insect to me, human.” Urizen stomps forward, his voice as low and booming as the thunder in the sky. “I will make short work of you.” Despite being soaked to the bone, the back of Nero’s throat went desert dry as he backed away from the towering demon. No matter how desperate and hopeless the situation seemed, Nero still revved his sword and prepared to give it his all. He’s gotten stronger since their last fight too, not to mention he’s still holding a grudge.

“Well I got bad news for you, this insect stings!” Nero begins his desperate charge towards the towering demon king. Urizen is completely unfazed by Nero’s threats and idly raises his hand, a massive ball of fire forming in his palm. Nero doesn’t want to waste the charge he’s built up in his sword to get him out of harm's way so he tries his best to dodge the incoming fireballs by himself.

The fireballs soar through the air and Nero kicks off the ground, letting the flap of his wings give him just enough air time to miss them. Nero feels a shock wave of heat wash over his back as the fireballs smash into the ground behind him, hissing out as the rain tries desperately to put out the flames. Now past the projectiles, Nero is close enough to let the big bastard have it. Hitting the gas on Chimera Credo, he launches himself up in the air over Urizen and dumps all of it into accelerating himself downward right on top of him.

Nero curses to himself as he sees that stupid red crystal rush to take the blow for Urizen. Both Nero and Urizen are taken by complete surprise when Chimera Credo smashes straight through it.

So much speed and power went into that downward slash that it smashed straight through the crystal, not even Dante was capable of breaking this thing in one go. Chimera Credo crashes into the steel hidden within the crystal and knocks it straight out in an explosion of sharp red chunks. Flying out and embedding itself into the ground is the Yamato. Hope fills Nero’s chest, _that’s_ how he’s going to win this!

Nero’s attention is so focused on the Yamato he just broke free that he practically forgot about the massive demon it was protecting. Urizen brings his hand up and swats him out of the air like the insect he saw him as. Nero splats down into the mud beneath him and his eyes shoot wide as he sees Urizen raising his foot to stomp him into the ground. Letting his wings reach out, Nero digs his claws into the ground to pull himself out of the way, just barely missing the attack and getting a chunk of mud splashed into his face. Nero pushes himself up to his feet, trying to wipe the mud away, leaving him blind to the sweeping kick Urizen followed up with.

Nero tumbles along the ground, trying desperately to hold onto Chimera Credo to keep it from flying off into the woods. During his tumble, Chimera Credo unintentionally sinks into the ground and slows Nero to a halt. Getting back up, Nero finds about seven different projectiles flying right for him. Thinking fast, he throws his arm down and attaches another breaker blindly, hoping it’s got some way out of this mess. Throwing his hand out, he lets his arm do its thing and feels the air around him suddenly grow heavy and sluggish.

Ragtime, nice.

Taking refuge in his own protective bubble of slowed time, Nero quickly gets to work rearming his sword to counter the incoming attack. Cranking Chimera Credo back into its electrical form, Nero builds up an electrical charge as fast as he can. Feeling Ragtime hiss and fizzle over his arm, Nero hopes he’s got enough power to do this. Slowly starting to spin to build up the sword's speed, Nero releases an electric wave of energy from his sword just as Ragtime fails and his time bubble pops.

Nero pumps his fist when he sees the electricity rip through the various bolts flying at him.

“GRHAAAA!” While the bolts were quick to break under the power of the wave, Urizen charged straight through it without batting an eye as he tries to pummel Nero into the ground again. Trying to keep the momentum going from his last swing and building up a new charge, Nero begins spinning towards him to try and land some solid hits instead of running away. He just needed to stun the big guy long enough for him to rush in and grab the Yamato.

Urizen hasn’t just resorted to physical attacks however. Though they’re the only ones that have worked so far, Urizen also throws out as many random projectiles as he can, sending bolts of energy hailing down from above and breaking out from the ground. Nero can’t keep his sword going at a deadly speed and dodge the lightshow trying to kill him, so he makes a really stupid decision; he pulls his devil trigger again.

He hasn’t fully recharged from the grueling first round, but he’s still got just enough juice to get him through this. As scales take over his skin, the small cuts and burns he started taking from grazes and near misses stop bothering him. He sees another glowing fireball barreling towards him but he doesn’t slow down. He takes it head on, slashing it apart and crying out in pain as molten rock clings onto his arms. He isn’t stopping!

Urizen doesn’t expect him to simply tank one of his more powerful long range attacks and isn’t ready to swing at him once he’s in range. Spinning out between the massive demons legs, Nero feels his sword hit flesh twice before he comes to a stop behind him. Throwing a glance over his shoulder, he finds Urizen falling to his knees as his legs refuse to hold him up with the massive gashes running from his shins to his calves.

Now, the Yamato!

Tossing aside Chimera Credo so he doesn’t have to lug around the dead weight, Nero breaks into a sprint across the field. Urizen continues to send barrage after barrage of projectiles towards him, but he’s accidentally created perfect cover for Nero to hide behind.

Rising from the middle of the field is a dense screen of steam created from the rain rapidly cooling his first few fireballs. Nero leaps into the protective screen and lets his devil trigger fall, completely hiding him within the fog. In a fit of rage, Urizen summons up another three fireballs to carpet bomb the field in hopes of hitting Nero somewhere within the steam. The three fireballs hiss through the air as they punch through the steam screen, only for one of them to suddenly bounce back.

Burning hot magma smashes into Urizen’s raised arm, causing him to scream out in rage and pain. Glowing through the thick steam is Nero’s spectral devil trigger again, sword outstretched after deftly deflecting the incoming fireball. Urizen begins smashing his fist into the ground in a violent rage.

“I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY A PATHETIC HUMAN! _I AM POWER!_ ” Nero is slightly taken aback as he watches the demon king break into a colossal temper tantrum. Looking off towards the treeline, he finds V trying to hide his face within the pages of his book of poetry in shame. It’s hard to believe that something like this was hidden within his father. Without V’s half, Urizen was left as a self aggrandizing monster who broke under pressure.

It was time to do everyone here a favor and shut him up.

Holding the Yamato at his hip and hunching down, Nero takes up a stance he’s seen his father take dozens of times, his spectre following suit. If Dante was able to do this, he should be able to do it too, especially since he’s the heir of this blade. Slowly exhaling and relaxing his muscles, Nero places his hand on Yamato’s hilt and clicks the blade out of its sheath.

Nero rips the Yamato out of its sheath as fast as he can and swings the blade out until his arm is fully outstretched behind him. The sudden movement pulls something in the back of his shoulder, but he fights through the pain to quickly return the blade back to its sheath, nicking his fingers as he tries to slip the sword inside.

V watches in astonishment as the steam in front of his son suddenly splits apart and a large slash suddenly forms across one of Urizen’s eyes, followed by a much larger slash from the spectre. A judgment cut! It was incredibly sloppy, Nero’s aim was off and he took way too long to complete the technique, and that said nothing about his form. Yet, seeing the accomplished smile form over Nero’s face caused a surge of pride to flood his chest.

Nero doesn’t take notice as he’s too busy rushing in to go for the kill. Tossing aside Yamato’s sheath, Nero charges forward with the sword held high above his head, keeping his arms away from his sides to allow his spectre to wrap its free hand around his torso. Lifting him up into the air, Nero allows his spectre to chuck him like a javelin, just as he did against Mundus. Vergil of course was present at that fight, and Urizen braces himself for the attack, raising his hands by his chest and getting ready to clap down on Nero before he can bury Yamato into his heart.

Mid flight, Nero unleashes the last of his reserved energy to release his devil trigger for this all out attack. As soon as Urizen’s hands shoot out from his chest to snatch him out of the air, Nero pulls the same trick that caught Vergil by surprise only minutes earlier.

He flaps his wings and just barely flies over Urizen’s outstretched arms.

Urizen’s one remaining eye goes wide as he realizes Nero wasn’t going for his heart, but for his neck.

Nero flies just over Urizen’s shoulder, holding out Yamato to his side to slash at Urizen’s throat as he flew past. The blade digs in deep and doesn’t slow Nero down as he passes. Nero falls to the ground as his DT finally dies out and he completely runs out of gas. Hitting the ground and losing his grip on Yamato, Nero lies flat on his back and stares up into the rain as a thick stream of black ink begins spurting from the neck wound he left behind in Urizen.

Nero doesn’t bother to watch him fall to the ground, he just feels the rumbles in the earth as he collapses and knows that the fight is over. Nero hears the sound of his massive body disintegrating and returning itself to V through the hissing of the flames and the low rumbles of thunder. Every single inch of Nero’s body ached, he struggled to get deep breaths in through the pain in his chest. He was covered in burns, cuts, bruises, and most likely had some dislocated if not broken bones.

He’s never had his ass so thoroughly handed to him before while also coming out victorious.

When he hears labored breathing that isn’t his, he rolls his head over, wincing at the pain, and finds Vergil is whole again. He’s hunched over with Yamato still buried in his chest, slowly pulling it out and biting down on his tongue to keep him from crying out. When he finally managed to pull the blade free, Vergil let out a restrained sigh and collapsed onto the ground next to Nero, facing up into the rain with him.

He looked just as battered as Nero did.

“I guess…” Vergil huffs out, exhausted beyond belief. “...Well call this a draw…”

“ _WHAT?!_ ” Nero tries to sit up, but his body gently reminds him that it’s completely broken and he falls back onto the ground. “Bullshit this is a draw, I beat your ass twice!”

“You defeated my doppelganger as well, do you count that as a victory too?!” Vergil spats back, trying to roll over to face his son. “Urizen and V of both extensions of me, collectively we are one. Besides…” Rolling over doesn’t work and Vergil falls onto his back again. “...Winner is the last one standing.”

With that, both of them begin fruitlessly trying to push themselves off the ground.

Nero tries to summon his wings to prop him up into a sitting position, but he lacks the energy to even bring them out. With even more strained effort, Vergil manages to roll over onto his belly to try and push himself up, but he can only manage to prop himself onto his elbows before his arms give out on him and he falls face first into the mud. None of them are getting up anytime soon.

“Ok fine.” Nero submits. “A draw.” With the competition finally at an end, both father and son finally allow themselves to rest. “I still beat Urizen though.” Nero states, turning to stare his father down. “You said-”

“I know what I said and I will follow through.” Vergil hums, cherishing the warmth still radiating from his chest. “You have far exceeded my expectations. You deserve to know the truth.” Trying to sit up, that warm fuzzy feeling is replaced with a stabbing pain as one of his ribs makes it known that it's broken. “Later though.” He begs. “I need just a moment to heal.”

Nero wasn’t planning on getting up anytime soon either. They lie on the ground together, beaten and bloodied, staring up at the rolling storm clouds as they passed by while the earth settled around them. The field was an absolute mess with weaponry and broken machinery scattered about, brunt patches of grass and ruptures in the earth. It looked like hell had broken loose right here in the middle of the woods.

Despite the horrible pain running through his body, Nero never felt more alive. Quiet peaceful moments with his father were few and far between, but every single one felt like a milestone. This one though, this one was different. Through his earlier efforts, he’s managed to get Vergil to smile, even laugh once, but this time he did something new.

He seemed to be proud of his son.

Nero hated that his brain immediately jumped to why that could be a bad thing. This was still the heartless swordsman who sacrificed thousands for his own benefit, was it really a good thing that Vergil saw himself in him? Nero tries to shut that line of thought up with a counter argument; Vergil was smiling and acknowledged someone other than himself. That had to be a good sign, right? This was a victory in his book.

Settling on that, Nero and Vergil remained in the field nursing their wounds until the rain started to dry out. The clouds began to lighten and eventually the late afternoon sun managed to break through. Without realizing it, Nero had managed to fall asleep in the middle of the field and is only woken up when Vergil nudges him awake and offers him a hand.

“Come, I have much to show you.”


	4. Following In Father's Footsteps

After scouring the field for their scattered belongings, Nero and Vergil limped arm in arm back to the van. The stretch of woods they fought in was damaged beyond repair, but the same could be said for many places around Fortuna. As they struggled through the woods, Vergil explained what they were doing.

They were going to go home, _his_ home.

Vergil has always kept to himself, only making his presence known when he wanted something. Him revealing where he lived within Fortuna was a massive sign of trust between them and Nero felt like this alone warranted celebration. He was finally starting to let other people in! Making it to the van, Nero throws open the driver's door for Vergil before walking around to get in the passenger seat.

“Where are you going?” Nero stops and turns around to find Vergil going around the van with him.

“You said you were showing me your place, right?” Nero points to the driver's seat. “Get in and take us there.” Vergil pauses for a moment and stares over the van, his face completely unreadable. “You don’t know how to drive, do you?” He had no basis behind this accusation, but he just couldn’t see this brooding swordsman get behind the wheel. Judging by the fact that Vergil turns his head away to stare at the ground, he’s right on the money. “Fine, I’ll drive.”

Climbing into their seats, they begin a long and quiet ride back to town. Both of them seem to be lost in their own heads as they drive through the woods, neither of them wanting to speak up and ruin the silence. With nothing but the rumble of the engine and the dirt being crushed underneath the tires, Nero tries to figure out what Vergil had in store for him.

It should be apparent now that it was impossible to predict Vergil. He managed to make even the simplest actions seem ominous and threatening, disappearing for a month to work on some mystery project was cause for concern. He’s stayed out of trouble for a while now and he’s made lots of progress, but that still didn’t explain what he was doing. Vergil’s been working tirelessly at it for weeks and has kept it a secret from everyone, until now. Whatever it is, he trusts Nero with it.

Did Dante know about this, or was he the only one? Did he want Nero’s help? Why would he choose him over Dante, _the_ legendary devil hunter.

“Head for the center of town.” Vergil finally breaks the silence, snapping Nero out of his thoughts and bringing his attention back to the street. The center of town was hard to miss, it was a massive pile of rubble in the middle of Fortuna. Nero navigated through the increasingly unmaintained roads until the ruined cathedral was in view. Once they had that landmark to go off of, Vergil began giving more detailed instructions, leading him back out of the destroyed sections of town into a small neighborhood just hanging off the edge of the ruined district.

The van pulled to a stop in front of a worn apartment building in a quieter part of town. If it weren't for the handful of lights and parked cars on the street, Nero would have assumed they were too close to the devastated districts for anyone to want to live here. This place was quiet and out of the way, no one wanted to live this close to the destroyed cathedral, just how Vergil liked it.

Vergil left the van and began moving inside, Nero followed close behind him, looking over the rundown apartment building his father called home. Making their way to the stairs, they begin a long ascent all the way to the top floor. A long climb like this wouldn’t typically be a problem, but with how exhausted he was from the fight, Nero was starting to break a sweat after the fourth floor. They make it to the top at the seventh floor and Vergil marches down the hall for his room. As he fiddles with the key, Nero stares down the rest of the hallway and notices that the lights on the other end have burnt out. Did anyone else live on this floor?

The door clicks open and Nero moves to follow Vergil inside, only to be stunned by what he finds.

While the rest of the building was dark and falling apart, this one tiny room on the seventh floor looked like it belonged in a completely different complex. The whole room was cluttered, but not in the same way Dante’s shop was. Everything was in its place, there was so much jammed in such a small space. Tall bookshelves that nearly scraped against the ceiling, a very large recliner in the corner with a large hole along the side. Vergil didn’t have too much to his name, but he seemed to be making the most of what little he has. Vergil doesn’t linger in the living room for long though, he begins moving to an offshoot room where a bedroom would be. Nero follows behind but stops when he notices something propped up against the wall.

A small garbage can, filled almost to the brim with a mix of empty energy drink cans and chocolate bar wrappers.

“We all have our vices.” Vergil comments when he notices Nero staring at it. Nero wasn’t going to call him out on his preferences, there were plenty of long hunts where sleep wasn’t an option and caffeine was the only thing keeping him going. He _was_ going to criticize the amount of this stuff he was burning through though. Garbage day was two days ago, it looked like there were about 9 cans in there already. He wasn’t scarfing down whole pizza’s like Dante, but there was no way that much caffeine and sugar was good for him.

Leaving that behind, Nero follows Vergil into the other room. Upon entering, Nero was hit with the heavy air of rotting paper and leather. Stacks of old dusty books piled all over the room, various shiny and ancient looking artifacts and jewelry framed and locked away on various shelves. Then there was the massive cork board hanging off the wall with enough newspaper clippings and red string to make any conspiracy theorist blush.

“Here it is.” Vergil throws his hands wide and gestures to the entirety of the room. “Weeks of sleepless research and planning, all compiled here.” Nero walks up to the corkboard and tries to find somewhere on the massive wall to start. His eyes glazed over the yellowing pages of old books and hand written notes, but his eyes did stop on an old newspaper clipping.

‘Massive tower erected in the middle of Red Grave!!!’ Looks like the qliphoth was the _second_ worst thing to happen to that old town. This must be the Temen Ni Gru, the one Dante had told him stories about. Trying to follow the strings attached to it, he finds pictures of two amulets with red gemstones, one of which he spotted when he walked into the room. Connected to that were more notes about keys and an old sword which looked similar to Vergil’s summoned swords.

“This is a lot to take in all at once.” Nero sighs and steps away from the corkboard. “You wanna just give me the abridged version? What’s all this leading up to?” Taking a deep breath, Vergil sits himself down in another old and worn chair.

“As you already know, I have lived most of my life on the run pursued by demons. I lost everything I knew and loved, and I refused to fill the void that left in me until I had the power to defend them. And so, I dedicated the last few years I had on the human world in search of power, a power great enough to rival that of the old king Mundus.” Vergil bows his head. “In my blind pursuit, I had abandoned the one woman I allowed myself to get close to, cast aside countless lives, and tried to kill my own brother. In the end, I sacrificed everything and got nothing in return, I had fallen into a trap Mundus had set for me years ago.”

“Even when I managed to break free from the underworld, my mind was still plagued by that same desire, which led to the creation of the qliphoth. I brought harm to even more people, including my own soul trying to get the apple at the top of that tree.” Vergil raises his head again and stares at Nero. “But I succeeded.” Vergil pushes off his chair and begins walking towards the corkboard.

“I finally have the power I dreamed of for thirty years! I can crush any demon under my foot, the nightmarish king Mundus is slain and I am now the ruler of the underworld. I have everything I ever wanted… but it was not worth the sacrifices. I know that now.” Vergil pauses to look at something on the corkboard. Pinned to one of the corners of the board is a gravestone rubbing, Donatella Una’s. “That is why I have gathered all of this.”

“I still don’t know what _this_ is.” Nero scratches his head. “What is all of this building up to?”

“I want to make amends, to try and undo some of the damage I caused.” Vergil bows his head again. “With the power I now possess, I have far exceeded the abilities of my father and I intend to continue his legacy.”

“I want to rebuild the barrier between the human world and the underworld.”

“What?!” Nero is taken aback by how monumental and… noble that goal seemed.

“I have no desire to return to the pits of hell.” Vergil continues. “The title of king doesn’t interest me anymore. I find that I’m starting to enjoy a life outside of constant combat, a life similar to my childhood. Unfortunately, the current barriers separating our two worlds have been poorly maintained over the centuries, leaving plenty of exits for demons to escape to the surface. I cannot bring those I’ve sacrificed back to life, but I want to stop any unnecessary death at the hands of demons, to make sure no one else lives a life as treacherous and lonesome as mine.”

Nero stared at his father in a complete shock. This was it, there was no denying it anymore, this was absolute proof that Vergil had changed. He didn’t care about becoming more powerful or finding a new rival to destroy, he had what he needed and now he wants to use that power for good. What hit him the hardest wasn’t just the fact that he wanted to help, but that he specifically wanted to help his family.

He wanted to make sure his grandkids never had to go through the same hell he and Dante did.

“Why didn’t you tell us this sooner?!” Nero suddenly remembers the fact that this asshole’s ghosted him for the past month and forced him into a fight just to get this info out of him. Of course he suspected the worst, his father acted like he had something to hide.

“To be fair, I hadn’t had much of anything planned out until recently.” Vergil admits. “It took me a while to even settle on this idea.”

“So?!”

“That,” Vergil continues, “And I didn’t know if something like this was possible without more bloodshed.” See, that was something that was worth hiding. “I have no idea how Sparda managed to create the barrier in the first place, I only know snippets from what I’ve seen and heard from Temen Ni Gru. This monumental task will require the slaughter and capture of countless demons… and most likely humans as well.” No, no, damn it! This was the one good thing Vergil was doing! There had to be another way!

“You’re not doing that.” Nero makes it clear he isn’t going to stand by and watch his father throw away more lives for his little project.

“I will find a way to keep us safe without a human cost.” Vergil insists, sharing Nero’s frustration. “I will not hold my desires over the lives of others any more. Regardless, I’m stuck as to where to look next. I have my sources, but new information has been slow and the only theories I have could be disastrous if mishandled. I can’t do this alone,” Vergil looks back to Nero. “Which is why I’m asking for your help.”

“Not Dante?” That was still something Nero wasn’t understanding. Maybe Vergil was trying his best at some father son bonding, but with something as serious as this, Dante was the more experienced hunter.

“Pfft, no.” Vergil shakes his head and chuckles, walking away from the corkboard and towards his desk at the far end of the room. “Dante is a valiant fighter and can be crafty when he wants to be, but I’m still skeptical if he can even read or do basic arithmetic. I don’t trust him to put the level of thought and care necessary into planning such a delicate matter.” That was pretty harsh. Nero doubted Vergil thought so little of his brother. Then again, their relationship is still very fuzzy in Nero’s mind. Dante didn’t say a single word about him in all the years they’ve known each other but was also willing to throw himself into hell to keep close with him.

“Alright then.” Nero sighs, looking over the extensive research Vergil’s gathered into this room. “Where do I start?”

“Hmm?” Vergil takes his attention away from the books piled up on his desk. “Oh. I’m afraid I don’t have anything you can help me with at the moment. I’m still trying to piece things together myself.” He turns back around and continues skimming through the ancient tome’s which look to be older than the town they’re living in.

“So that’s it then?!” Nero asks. “You’ll just send your creepy demon carrier pigeon to my house once you actually have a plan?”

“Don’t be foolish, Magnus looks nothing like a bird. A tumor infested cockroach is a more apt description.” Vergil didn’t seem to notice the irritation in his son's voice and continues to flip through his books, noting down anything that seems important.

“I want you to join us for dinner again.” Nero blurts out, causing Vergil to raise his head. “It's the least you could do for dragging me out here without warning. Besides, the kids miss you.” Something about this just felt too anticlimactic. They both just fought the hardest they ever had in their lives just for him to be told about Vergil’s first draft at a plan to save the world? There was something missing here, maybe he was just expecting too much after a month long wait.

Maybe he just wanted to see this new side of his father some more now that he had him.

“I’ve yet to make any progress in my research today…” Vergil rises from the desk and closes his book. “But it would not be wise to push everything aside to focus on work.” He wasn’t about to fall back onto old habits. All it took was the smile that brightens up Nero’s face to confirm to Vergil that this was the right choice. The promise of a home cooked meal was also something that piqued Vergil’s interest. He’s still hesitant to eat most foods and has limited himself to light snacking to sustain himself when his demonic blood wasn’t enough. There was also the possibility that Kyrie would make that mouth watering tiramisu again. “Wait for me in the van. I have a few things I want to bring with me.”

\---

The next morning, Nero’s entire body felt like a bruise. It was rare that he’d come home this beaten up anymore but no matter how fine he felt the previous day, he always felt like shit the next morning once his body was allowed to settle and mend itself. This was his day off however, meaning he’d have plenty of time to heal. Dragging himself out of bed and through the shower, Nero began his slow march to the kitchen only to spot Vergil sitting on the couch, pouring over the handful of books on his lap.

“‘Morning.” Nero gave him a half assed wave. In response, Vergil’s head shot up and turned to look out the window, seemingly noticing the sun for the first time. Did… did he sleep at all last night? Upon further investigation, Nero spotted not one, but two crumpled cans by his fathers feet. Oh my god, did he force himself to stay up all night by chugging energy drinks?! Now that he’s thinking about it, he realizes he never saw an actual bed in Vergil’s small apartment. “Do you just… not sleep? At all?”

“There is work to be done.” Vergil simply replies, jostling the book on his lap. “I couldn’t help but notice your lack of defenses here as well.” He continues looking over the living room.

“Defenses?” Nero’s too tired to deal with this right now. “This is my house, not a fortress.”

“A simple snare would do the trick to wake you in case of intruders.” Vergil comments, closing up his book and pushing off the couch. “You didn’t even wake when one of the children tried to sneak into the kitchen. Imagine what could have happened if something tried to sneak into their room?” Nero _really_ didn’t want to think about that.

“You really shouldn’t be pulling all nighters when you don’t need to.” Nero shakes his head, walking over and gathering the crumpled cans at his fathers feet. “You’re just gonna burn yourself out and crash at the worst possible moment. And you _really_ shouldn’t be drinking this stuff. With how many of these you’re drinking, a heart attack is gonna do you in before any demon does.”

Vergil grumbles to himself, gathering the rest of his belongings when a foreign sound rings out through the living room. Nero watches in shock as his father pulls a small flip phone from his jacket.

“Speak.” Vergil presses the phone to his ear, his face falling into its usual stoic look. He doesn’t notice Nero staring at him during his call. He had a phone this entire time and he still didn’t bother to call?! It’s not like Vergil needed his number, it’s on the side of the van! “I’ll be there.” Vergil clicks the phone shut, finishing his conversation in only two sentences. “Thank you for your hospitality once again, but I must be on my way.”

Vergil quickly begins marching through the house and down the stairs. It’s so sudden and Nero’s mind was so groggy that he didn’t get a chance to stop him to find out what was going on. Looking down the stairway, he can see a blue glow shining from outside as Vergil teleported away.

Nero decides to drop it until he gets caffeine in his system, he’s too tired to worry about any of this yet. One thing was for sure though, he was gonna find him again and force an explanation out of him. They were on good terms now, but he was sick of all the secrets and hiding. Stumbling towards the kitchen, Nero is about to brew up some coffee when his own phone starts to ring. Rushing back out of the kitchen to silence it before it woke anyone else up, Nero nearly trips over himself grabbing it.

“Hello?” He tries to rub the tiredness out of his eyes as he tries to look for a clock in the room. Who the hell is trying to call him at 7:30 in the morning?

“Ah, good. Sorry for calling so early, but I got something interesting for you.” Morrison?! Just hearing his voice was a mental kick that forced Nero to wake up and pay attention. “I need to meet you personally, same place as last time and as soon as possible. Can I expect to see you?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Nero nods along, trying to shake away the last of his drowsiness. “I’ll be there in an hour.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” Morrison chuckles on the other end of the line. “See you soon Nero, breakfast is on me if you’re quick enough.” The line goes dead and it’s only after Nero replaces the phone onto its base that his body starts to cry out in disagreement again. He was never gonna catch a break, was he? At this rate Kyrie is gonna have to scrape him off the floor.

Just one more job, and then he’s done.

\---

Arriving at The Third Rail this early felt strange. Nero didn’t drink enough to frequent bars, but he’s driven Nico back from them plenty of times. It wasn’t even noon yet, the rest of the street was still closed down and waking up from the previous late night. Despite this, The Third Rail seemed very busy. Even approaching the door, Nico and Nero were able to hear a commotion coming from inside.

“You’d think Morrison would kick out any drunks who didn’t leave so he could have a quiet spot for himself.” Nico comments as she tries to listen in on the very loud argument going on inside. “Maybe he just wanted you to harass some goons and clear up his bar for a free meal?”

“Don’t get my hopes up.” Nero sighs. Wasting no more time, Nero pulls the door open and steps inside, the argument inside getting much louder now that he’s past the door. What catches him by surprise is how familiar the voices sound. Rushing into Morrisons usual corner of the bar, he finds out why.

“No, no! There’s got to be some kinda mistake here! Morrison called _ME_ for a big job. You’re the one who takes on all the dumb jobs I don’t care about!”

“I would not be here if I was not summoned! Not everything revolves around you, Dante!”

The sons of Sparda were here and they were in the middle of a very heated argument. Vergil still looked like a mess, he must have come straight here after leaving. Dante was… It only occurred just now that it’s been a while since Nero’s seen Dante in person. In all the years he’s known the man, Nero’s only ever seen the man wear expensive looking leather jackets. Dante seemed to be lacking one right now however. In place of the heavy leather, Dante now sports a simple red suit coat over a black dress shirt.

“Are you gonna join in, or are you just here for the show?” Taking his attention off of the bickering brothers, Nero finds that there are two other demon hunters in the bar with them.

“‘Ey! Lady! Trish!” Nico pushes past Nero to join in with the girls, taking a seat on a stool next to them as Vergil and Dante continue to berate each other. “So… What’s going on here? What did we miss?”

“I don’t know, this kinda just happened on its own.” Lady explains. “Morrison gathered all three of us out here to talk details about some big job he had cooked up.”

“Turns out we weren’t the only ones he called.” Trish finishes for her. “Vergil was waiting here as well, insisting that he was called here by Morrison. Is it safe to assume that’s why you’re here too?”

“Vergil works for Morrison?!” Trish’s question completely flies over Nero’s head as he connects his fathers phone call to his presence here. “Wait a minute, when did this happen?!”

“You wanna ask him?” Lady turns her attention back at the shouting match which has now advanced to the two brothers shoving each other back and forth. Yeah, Nero’s gotten his ass beat once already, he wasn’t desperate to get in the middle of this. In between the yelling, the four of them hear the doorbell ring. Turning around, the broker himself waltzes in, leaving a trail of cigar smoke behind him as he carries four large pizza boxes inside.

“I’m surprised you boys didn’t burn the place down before I made it!” Morrison calls out into the bar and the two brothers immediately shut up in his presence. Now that they’ve quieted down, they take notice of the younger devil hunter who joined them.

“Ok wait a minute.” Dante scratches the back of his head. “What’s going on here? Are we throwing a party or something? I smell bacon.” Morrison lets out a light chuckle as he sets the pizza boxes down onto the bar counter, popping open the first one to reveal a breakfast pizza.

“You could say that.” Morrison nods his head. “Go ahead, help yourselves. My treat.” Nero has no idea what’s going on, but he’s running on fumes, free pizza sounds nice right now.

“What’s the occasion?” Trish asks, grabbing a slice for herself. “You don’t give us freebies, and you definitely don’t have us fly out here to receive them. What’s your game here?”

“Did I forget my birthday again?” Dante asks after folding two slices onto each other and shoving them into his mouth, much to Vergil’s disgust.

“Nah.” Morrison shakes his head. “I wanted you all to welcome the newest member under my wing.” He takes his cigar out of his mouth and points it towards Vergil. “You’ve all been very busy, but I think he’s quickly becoming my favorite. I felt you should all help him through his first big gig.” Holy shit, Vergil _was_ working for Morrison!

“I am more than capable of handling whatever you need on my own.” Vergil grumbles. “Besides, I work better alone.”

“I know.” Morrison nods. “Hell, I could probably only send one of any of you to get this done by yourselves. But it’s been too long since I’ve seen Dante dish out a good ass whoopin and I want to see how well you fare against him.” He replaces the cigar back into his mouth and turns to point to everyone else. “That goes for all of you. You’re all under the Devil May Cry name but you guys are all out doing your own things. I want to see what happens if I throw every single one of you into the same room with the bad guys.”

“So that’s why we’re all here?” Nico asks. “You just wanted to watch all of us do the same job?” She throws her hands up and shrugs. “Shit, that sounds cool! Nero can show off the sword we’ve been working on!”

“Aw man, I was starting to like having a whole town to ourselves.” Lady pouts. “Whatever, that just means it's our turn to show you boys how to get shit done.”

“Alright.” Dante cracks his knuckles and rolls his shoulders. “It’s been a while since I had a reason to get out of the shop. I’m ready to party!”

“I suppose this could be fun.” Vergil nods, slipping into a smirk. “It’ll be a change of pace to fight alongside more than just Dante.” It seems like everyone was in agreement. They were all going on this hunt, and no doubt all of them were feeling competitive. Nero felt excited and energized even though there was still a dull ache overtaking his entire body.

“Just point us in the right direction, boss.” Nero asks. “Let’s kick some ass!”


	5. A Normal Family Outing

Of course it was those extremist loonies from the Order of the Sword again. After being directly responsible for the second demonic invasion on Fortuna, any remaining faith in the Order had completely burned away. At least… the actual organization did. Plenty of people were still trapped in town to see Dante and Vergil fight off against Mundus, they’ve seen the sons of the demon they worship protecting them from harm, just as their father did. Whatever their stance was on the whole religion, most people kept quiet about it now if they did still follow the saviour’s teachings.

Not these guys though.

These were the same guys who rebuilt the hell gates for who they thought was the resurrected Sparda. These guys were nutjobs of the highest order who are convinced that it is now Sparda’s will to let demons roam free in the world once again. It was almost sad how much Mundus played them if they weren’t responsible for the most recent invasion and the deaths of thousands.

Morrison found these idiots the same way he found the last batch. The demons that they successfully managed to summon were getting restless and sneaking out of their hiding spot to prey on humans nearby. After a few worried calls to Devil May Cry, which were rerouted to Vergil after Dante refused to take the offers because of their pitiful pay, Vergil had managed to track down the structure they were hiding in; an hold temple to Sparda, hidden near the coasts of Italy not far from Fortuna. He was displeased when told to leave it for now, but now he knows why.

_Everyone_ was going in.

It wasn’t necessary at all, they were going up against the remnants of an already crumbling cult and a handful of demons. Nico could probably destroy the whole cult on her own with enough ammo and gasoline. The reason why all six of them were charging in now was for two reasons. One: Morrison wanted to see what happened when all of them had the same target. And two: They wanted to make sure nothing survived from this temple to insure Fortuna’s safety. It was going to be overkill, and they couldn’t wait to get started.

“Check this out. I never got the chance to show her off before you two left for Red Grave again.” Nico reached between her seat and the wall to reveal her rifle to the girls. “Custom built and chambered in 300. magnum! You should see how pissy Nero looks when I take out some of his targets before he gets to them.”

“I get pissy because you’re _shooting at me!_ ” Nero is quick to correct as he assembles his sword in the middle of the van. “I can hear your shots whizzing past my head!”

“I think you’re overreacting.” Dante comments as he rummages through Nero’s fridge. “I get shot at all the time, you get used to it after a while.”

“You may have taken a few to many shots to the head, Dante.” Vergil scoffs from the couch, sharpening Yamato on his lap.

“Oh trust me, I don’t shoot him in the head anymore because I’m scared I might actually scramble his brains for good.” Lady shakes her head, causing Nero’s head to shoot up.

“Wait, what?! Why were you shooting Dante?!”

“Do you really need a reason to?” Trish shrugs. “Hell, it’s pretty much how Lady greets him. Words don’t have any effect on him when it's his turn to front the bills, bullets are quick to change his mind.” Vergil chuckles and nods in silent agreement. He’s done his fair share of beating sense and reason into his brother.

“Well don’t take that as an excuse to shoot me whenever you want.” Dante warns, joining his brother on the couch. “So, whatcha workin on there kiddo?”

“OH! OH!” Nico quickly rushes past Trish and Lady to join Nero’s side to show off their project. “I’ve been wanting to show this off to you! Hurry up and put it together Nero!”

“Just give me a minute, it’s almost done!” Nero tries to give himself some space as he finishes up the last few steps of assembly before _very carefully_ lifting up the sword to show off without damaging the van. “After almost a month of grueling work between the two of us, behold: Chimera Credo.” The other devil hunters gather round, oohing and ahhing at the massive and complex blade.

“I’m actually in the market for a new sword.” Trish comments, running a finger along the edge. “Do you take commissions, Nico?”

“I’m more into gunsmithing than swords, but I think I did one hell of a job for my first try.” Nico beams with pride, taking in all the praise she can get.

“Lemmie get a closer look at this.” Dante reaches his hand out and takes the handle. To Nero’s shock, Dante actually manages to lift it one handed. “I mean, you’re just showing off with how ridiculous this thing looks. What do these things on the back do-”

“Don’t touch that!” Nero and Nico both shout out in unison as Dante reaches to pull at the lever on the back. Even Vergil braces himself beside him, not wanting to get zapped or burned by whatever Dante might unleash. Dante freezes up at the sudden panic. “You’ll get to see what it does, just…” Nero takes his sword back. “Let someone who knows how this works use it.”

“Ok…?” Dante leans back in his seat. “I’m not gonna break anything, I promise.” He keeps his hands up to emphasize this.

“It’s fine, there’s just a lot of things going on in that case.” Nero assures, making a mental note to maybe add some safety mechanisms to this thing so no one accidentally blows themselves up if they get their hands on it. “By the way, what’s with the new get up?”

“Oh, this?” Dante’s hands fall to gesture to the dark red suit coat he’s wearing. “I felt like it was time to change up my style.”

“No.” Lady is quick to shake her head. “You were crying because we were keeping the company's funds out of your hands so you couldn’t blow another fortune on a new jacket.”

“I kinda like it though.” Trish comments over Lady’s shoulder. “It’s not as flashy, but I have to admit you look sharp in a suit.”

“I think it’s starting to grow on me.” Dante nods his head in agreement. “And it’s not everyday Miss. fashion police has something nice to say about how I look.”

“Enough idle chit chat.” Vergil orders as he returns Yamato to its sheath. “We should move on the temple and finish this.”

“Yeah.” Dante sighs and pushes off the couch. “It’s about time we liven up the party in there and crash the place.”

“Oh! Can we do the gate crasher thing again?!” Nico springs back to the front of the van, stocking up on a bit more ammo and putting the key in the ignition.

“What’s the gate crasher thing?” Lady asks.

“Buckle up and you’ll find out soon enough.” Nero warns as he hunkers down and holds onto the jukebox. The engine roars to life and everyone takes the hint, rushing to find a seat or for something bolted to the floor to cling to.

“HERE WE GO!!!” Putting the pedal to the metal, the van lurches forward and quickly accelerates. They rip through their parking spot on the edge of the woods and begin ripping through shrubs and branches as Nico barely tries to stick to the small dirt path. Eventually, they go off road to reach the temple deeper in the woods. The van begins to rock violently as they ride over roots and small hills, Nero averts his eyes from the windshield so he doesn’t see how close they are to ramming into trees at full speed. “I SEE IT, WE’RE GOING IN HOT!”

“Alright!” Dante cheers, trying to get steady on his feet as he inches towards the door. “Let’s get this party started!”

“YEAH!!!!!” The van hits something and is launched into the air. Everyone becomes weightless inside as the van descends upon a dilapidated stone temple. Once the van crashes through the stone walls of the temple, everyone is thrown back to the ground. The van goes through the stone like it’s nothing, but once they hit the ground, they don’t stop. The floors seem to be as busted as the walls, because the van begins plummeting into a large underground cavern. They maybe take out two or three stairways before the van smashes into solid ground one more time, bringing the van to a stop. “And we’re here! Everyone, proceed out the door to your right in an orderly fashion and give whatever’s waiting outside hell!”

“I said this already, but I really gotta go out with you guys some more.” Dante managed to keep himself upright during the crash and waltzed over to the door, drawing his handguns. “Come on guys!” Kicking the door open, Dante throws himself outside and immediately begins opening fire.

“This may be fun.” Vergil remained seated on the couch the whole ride undisturbed. Now that Dante was out and having fun, it was time to get to work. Within the blink of an eye, Vergil had vanished from the van and Dante started complaining about kill stealing outside.

“Can’t let the boys have all the fun. Let's move!” Trish and Lady funnel out the door, doubling the sound of gunfire outside. Nero quickly starts making his final preparations before heading out the door when he hears the front door open. Looking up, Nico has her rifle and revolver in hand and is stepping outside.

“Woah hey wait a minute!” Nico stops to look back at a concerned Nero. “You sure you wanna leave the van? We don’t know what could be waiting for us out there.”

“And miss out on this? Hell no!” Nico shakes her head. “Besides, I got five legendary devil hunters fighting alongside me. I’ll be fine.” She steps outside and slams the door behind her, adding to the cacophony of gunshots outside. With a worried sigh, Nero finishes up with Chimera Credo and cranks it to start its engine. Stepping outside, he enters into the hellscape that was waiting for them.

The temple up on the surface was simply the entrance into what they could now see was a sprawling underground dungeon. The place was much bigger than they expected, and fuller than expected. There was a whole mess of demons and hooded cultists in every direction, and it was only now that Nero noticed that some of the gunfire echoing through the dungeon wasn’t coming from their own guns. The cultists were fighting alongside the demons!

Maybe this would be more complicated than they thought.

It still boggles his mind how these people could do this to their own kind. Even under the teachings of that bastard Sanctus, the Order was all about cherishing humanity and praising Sparda’s choice to save them. It took just one change in management to completely shift that creed into something so completely different, it made Nero wonder if they were just as dismissive and ignorant of Sanctus’ preaching's as he was. Hell, if they could somehow convince these idiots that they were Sparda himself, they’d fall heads over knees to do whatever they told them.

Distracted by his own growing fury, something rushes up to him from his right and Nero tries to drag his sword up to guard. Before it could make contact though, about three blue blades sink themselves into the demons gaping maw and it falls backwards.

“Now is not the time to let your mind wander.” Vergil states from Nero’s left, taking a moment to survey the battlefield from the safety of the van. “No matter how trivial the fight seems, always remain vigilant. Show these demons the same ferocity you showed me.”

With that small nugget of fatherly wisdom, Vergil kicks off the van and dashes towards a small group of cultists trying to make a break for the stairway they just crashed down. With a flash from the Yamato, Vergil passes them by and moves on to another target, leaving the cultists to slowly fall apart after they’ve been split in two.

Ever since Nero took up this job, his biggest goal was to keep the people of Fortuna safe. Humans were preyed upon constantly, and watching these men get cut down irked him in all the wrong ways. They were manipulated into this, their lives ruined by the demons he was supposed to hunt. He felt like he failed them in a way, but instead of being eaten or slaughtered, they were converted into monsters themselves.

That’s what he had to see these people as; monsters. If left alone to keep repeating the same dangerous ideas in their head, they’d only do this again.

Revving up his sword, he lets his frustration fuel him as he charges into battle. If these people were an enemy to humanity, they were an enemy to him, no matter what they were.

\---

“Jeez, how big is this place?!” Dante took a look back down the seemingly endless corridor he’s been walking down. This was supposed to be a quick run of the mill job but at this rate he’d be here all day.

“You wanna… hold up a minute.” Struggling to keep up behind him was the only other person who followed him down this path: Nico. “I feel like… we’ve been running for an hour.” Nico plops down and lies in the middle of the massive corridor, completely out of breath.

“Hey, not my fault you can’t keep up.” Dante huffs, barely managing to hide the fact that he’s getting winded too. “Better stay on your feet though, just because we’ve wandered deep doesn’t mean there’s nothing hiding down here.” With a whine, Nico pushes herself back up to her feet, keeping an eye and rifle pointed to the dimly lit halls and chambers. “Man I hope we aren’t missing out on anything by heading down here.”

“I wish I brought the van with us.” Nico grumbles.

“Well, too late to go back for it now.” Dante shrugs. “We’ll just have to go the rest of the way on foot.” Dante is about to continue marching forward when Nico lets out a shrill whistle down the corridor behind them. “Hey come on, cut that out. You’re just gonna make things harder for us.”

“Just give it a minute.” Nico shushes him before placing her fingers in her mouth and whistling out again. The sound echoes down the hall, no doubt alerting everything in here of their presence. Nico falls silent and cups her hand around her ear, waiting for something.

“I’m pretty sure Nero went in the opposite direction.” Dante sighs. “He isn’t showing up to bail us ou-!”

“Shh! Listen!” Nico is quick to silence Dante who reluctantly shuts up. He strains his ears to listen for what’s got Nico’s attention and doesn’t hear a thing, though he does feel a low rumble in the ground beneath him. Dante’s worry and confusion only grows more potent as the smile on Nico’s face gets wider.

“Nico? What’s goin’ on?” Dante gets no answer as the rumbling gets stronger. Suddenly, without warning, the wall just behind them explodes in a shower of debris. Screeching to a halt only inches away from Dante is the van, the front of the vehicle completely splattered in blood and dented to all hell. The smell of burning rubber quickly catches up to it as Dante blows out the breath he was holding in. “This… isn’t a normal car, is it?”

“Is Minotaurus a brand you’ve ever heard of?” Nico rushes up to the front of the van, brushing aside a demon's remains stuck on the grill to pop the hood open. “I took the time to install and fine tune a _special_ engine.” Peeking over the hood, Dante doesn’t find what he’s expecting. This didn’t even look like an engine, it looked like an armored cage containing something deep inside. Dante also noticed that the blood splattered against the van was actually seeping into this cage, causing it to roar louder.

“This thing is a devil arm?!”

“I guess you never got to ride around in it, but this baby is capable of things you wouldn’t believe! Everyone else picked up on it pretty quickly.” Nico breams with pride, slamming the hood down and giving it an affectionate pat. “I’m actually a great driver, it’s the van that wants to run down every demon on the road.”

“This…” Dante is left dumbstruck at the revelation. “...is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen! You did this?!” Nico’s heart nearly seizes in her chest when she sees the legendary devil hunters face light up with genuine amazement. Is there a greater compliment than being called cool by one of the coolest people alive? “Wanna take me for a spin? Looks like you pissed some of them off.”

“I- I uh- You- Yeah!” Nico stumbles on her words as she tries to process what Dante said. Dante quickly rushes to the passenger side and Nico chases after him to start up the van. Oh my god, this was a dream come true! Nero can shove it with all his talk about how much of a looser Dante was, he didn’t know shit! Wonder what he’s up to right now.

\---

“Stop with the lecturing! I know what I’m doing!”

“There are way too many holes in your defense! You’re asking to be skewered!”

Of course Nero had to be stuck watching over his father. Eventually Vergil got bored of chasing Dante around and branched off to finish the job himself. Nero kept close to him, desperate to find a moment to get more answers out of him. The demons hadn’t let up though, this wasn’t the small group of deserters they thought they were going against, there was a small army’s worth down here. Nero never got any time to ask his questions, but Vergil wouldn’t shut up about how poorly he was fighting.

“You’re asking for another ass kicking, you know that?!” Nero spats back, splattering another demon with another furious strike. “How about it, ready for round three already?!”

“Stop talking and keep fighting!” Vergil orders.

“You first!” Nero stops and raises his sword above his head, threatening to swing at Vergil if he continues to harass him. Vergil actually stops to raise his own sword, completely dismissing his own warnings to challenge him. It’s with a horrified shock that Nero realizes that he’s fallen into the same bizarre rivalry Vergil shares with Dante. That didn’t make him change his mind though, in fact it just made him want to bash his fathers head in even more for dragging him into this.

A hail of gunfire suddenly gets their attention as a dozen bullets fly between them, both of them leaping backwards to avoid getting blown away. They both turn their attention to a group of cultists riding on top of a behemoth, charging down the corridor and opening fire on them.

Nero had to give these guys credit, teamwork was not really something that came to demons naturally, actually convincing them to work together like this was impressive.

Pushing each other out of their minds, Nero and Vergil charge forward to deal with the combined threat bearing down on them. Well… mostly. As they continue to delve deeper into the dungeon, they keep throwing glances towards each other, analyzing their every mistake and storing them in their minds to criticize and berate each other over once they were in the clear.

In other words, they were bonding as well as any descendant of Sparda could.

\---

“At least the idiots shooting back at us are keeping us stocked on ammo.” Lady braces herself behind cover as an explosion ripples through the dungeon and sends shrapnel flying through the now empty chambers. Peeking out of cover, Lady looks into the room to find that anything that was still crawling around in there was now paste. “You done on your side?”

“Almost!” Trish calls back from a bit further down the corridor before being silenced by a deafening blast. A powerful wave of heat washes over Lady as she tries to cover her eyes from the flying debris. Strutting out of the newly formed cloud of smoke, Trish slings Pandora over her shoulder. “There. That’s the last of them for this side.”

“Finally!” Lady takes the moment of quiet they earned themselves to let Kallina Ann off her shoulder. “About time they let up.” Propping the rocket launcher against the wall, Lady begins going through all of her weapons to load fresh rounds into them while Trish begins to massage her bloodied knuckles.

“Guess we’ve had our fun. It’s all quiet down here now.” Trish grumbles as she looks down the path of destruction they’ve created. “Maybe if we make it back fast enough we’ll get to a section of this maze that hasn’t been cleared yet.”

“Fat chance.” Lady pouts, shouldering Kallina Ann again. “Dante’s probably already cleaned house already. Safe to say the job is pretty much done.” Lady shrugs and begins walking back down the way they came, kicking a few of her spent casings around as they walk. “Dante’s changed, hasn’t he?”

“Oh good, I’m not going crazy. You think so too?” Lady throws a glance back at her partner.

“Something about him has been different since he came back.” Trish nods. “For one, the liquor cabinet hasn’t been emptied every week. That, and he actually bothered to shave this morning! I don’t know what changed, but Dante’s been picking himself up recently.”

“I haven’t seen him smile so much.” Lady agrees.

“Maybe reuniting with Vergil did him some good.” Trish muses. Lady scoffs at the idea, causing Trish to raise an eyebrow. “That reminds me, I never got to meet the man personally before he was corrupted. What was he like?”

“Take all of Dante’s worst traits and multiply them by five.” Lady growls. “They were trying to kill each other the whole time he was around. Though, to be fair, I was also trying to kill the both of them too.” Lady takes a slow breath out her nose. “Despite that, Dante also deeply missed Vergil once he was gone, regardless of what he did.”

“I’m sure Vergil feels the same way, seeing his brother again after so many years.” The new, happier Dante was quickly growing on them and it made Vergil’s sudden introduction into their business a bit more tolerable. The girls continue down the corridor when Trish throws a hand out, feeling a low rumble in the ground.

Both of the girls flinch as there’s a loud crash further down the corridor and an explosion of flying stone. Through the new cloud of smoke and dust, two harsh lights shine through at the both of them before a familiar voice rings out.

“Hop in ladies, don’t want you to wander all alone down here!”

\---

Nero and Vergil didn’t get a chance to continue their argument, they weren’t given the chance to slow the fight down. They had managed to wander down one of the more guarded sections of the dungeon, one that demons were willing to fight fang and claw to keep them out of. All of Vergil’s passive aggressive jabs at Nero’s poor form fizzled out the moment he started getting hit, and the moment Nero stopped to bark out a laugh at his mistakes, he was thrown to the ground.

While hissing out in pain, they both send a quick glance towards each other. They share a silent agreement to drop this childish game and take things seriously. They were sick of getting beat up, regardless of who was doing the beating.

They both release their devil triggers, throwing everything piling on top of them aside. The steady back and forth quickly turned into a one sided slaughter as Nero and Vergil began fighting together instead of competing against each other. They don’t seem to be making much progress though, demons keep flooding in from every angle. How many of them are down here?!

An explosion of rubble goes off just ahead and Nero braces himself for what he believes is another behemoth. The sound of screeching tires and rapid gunfire fill the air and Nero breathes a sigh of relief.

“So this is where the party’s been!” A flash of red cuts through the smoke and the demon ranks up ahead start to thin out much faster. Now they were making progress!

They begin making short work of everything left in the corridor. The Sparda boys quickly cut through the hordes of demons, their swords becoming blurs of blue and red. The girls all stick to the van, Lady and Trish hanging off the roof and firing down into the crowd while Nico continues to drive the van into them, leaning out the window to pop some shots off with her revolver.

It was an absolute clusterfuck of noise, bullets, and blood. By the time they were finished, the stench of gunpowder, burnt rubber, and gore was overpowering. It was over, the hunters now had a clear view of what they were guarding; one last door leading into a massive chamber. Continuing with the pattern of using the van as a battering ram, Nico hits the gas and smashes through the door, letting everyone else charge in behind her.

Inside they find just one last cultist, throwing his arms wide to protect yet another massive hellgate behind him.

“Don’t take one more step!” He cries out, frustration and anger warbling his voice. “You’ve destroyed this sacred place! You’ve gone against the will of the saviour Sparda! You’ve destroyed all hope of a common ground between man and demon!”

“Shut your trap!” Nero is quick to counter. “Sparda’s been dead for years now! The last time Sparda’s had a ‘sudden change of heart’ is when he was being puppeted around by his nemesis! Whatever great plan he’s got for you now is all in your head!”

“You’ve not seen him! This was no imposter” The cultist spats, tears flowing down his face. “He’s spoken to me! He’s stood before me in this very room! Do you think I don’t know who my god is?!”

“Yawn…” Dante shakes his head in disapproval. “Heard talk like this countless times. I was hoping you crazies would come up with better material, but you all sound exactly the same.” Dante draws his pistols and levels them at the cultists head. “Let’s wrap this up guys, what do you say?”

“Yeah.” Nero doesn’t bother drawing Blue Rose. Instead, he swaps out his breaker for Gerbera and lets it charge, feeling the energy build up inside of it. Everyone else also readies their weapons. Lady and Trish leveling their massive artillery at the hellgate and the idiot standing in front of it. Nico brings up her rifle while a barrage of summoned swords manifest over Vergil’s shoulders.

“You will regret this…” These were the last words the man spoke before everyone opened fire. Bullets, swords, explosives, and concentrated blasts of pure energy. Under the combined firepower of all six demon hunters, the cultist didn’t last for more than a second. He had been completely vaporized as their fire turned to the hellgate behind him, obliterating the demonic monolith and destroying most of the room they were standing in. By the time the smoke cleared, there was only a pile of rubble where the two of them stood.

“And that’s a wrap.” With a quick spin on each finger, Dante returns Ebony and Ivory to their holsters. “Party’s over. I don’t feel like crashing on the couch here, so let’s get going. Don’t want to be late for Morrison’s after party.”

“We’re gonna have to find a way back up the stairs we destroyed though.” Lady mentions, but Nico is quick to correct her.

“You kiddin’ me? I’ll _make_ a way out if we can’t just drive back up. Come on guys, pile in and buckle up!” Nico takes charge, funneling everyone back into the van to lead them back up to the surface. Nero shakes off the few remaining bits of Gerbera off his cuff and turns to leave, when he notices Vergil standing before the ruined gate.

“You comin’ or what?” Everyone else is already in the van and waiting on them. Vergil throws a glance over his shoulder, a look of deep thought etched onto his face.

“I will reconvene with you later.” He tells them, turning back towards the ruined hellgate. “I wish to stay here for a moment. There’s something I need to investigate.”

“Nero, get your ass in here or we’re leaving you to sulk in this dungeon with your dad!” At Nico’s behest, Nero turns to leave with the rest of the hunters. Chances are Vergil would be waiting for them at their destination once he was satisfied here.

As the van backs out and begins barreling down the rubble and bodies they left behind on the way here, Vergil is finally given the silence he needs to concentrate. This seemingly small job has dug up some unexpected finds, ones that would benefit Vergil’s research greatly. A sprawling underground temple built in his father's name predating the Order of the Sword? This place was ancient and could hold all kinds of secrets.

That wasn’t what was bothering him though. He could easily come back here on his own time to do research, but something about this place and the things in it are distressing him. The others were quick to assume the robed worshipers within this temple were more brainwashed puppets from Mundus’ influence, but that didn’t explain the demon presence here. Without a powerful leader, there was no way humans and demons could have worked together this efficiently. A greater power was at play here, one that both man and demon were convinced was Sparda.

After putting his father to rest himself, he knows that’s not possible.

Staring down at the puddle of blood leaking through the rubble at his feet only brings up more questions. That man was fully convinced he had personally met his father to the very end. The hellgate, the already assembled army, this new imposter… His and his companions' actions here may have destroyed this operation, whatever it was, but that didn’t put Vergil’s mind at ease. _Something_ was out there, building an army once again. He would need to double his efforts, he will not stand to have demons invade this world when those he cares about still live on it.

He would either strengthen the divide between their realms, or he would crawl back down there and sever the problem at the roots. It was his duty to make sure the disaster he caused was the last of its kind.

Leaving the crumbling structure behind, Vergil begins wandering the halls, searching every corner to clear his mind and make the feeling of being watched go away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, another chapter of the series comes to a close. I still have one more story planed for this series and possibly more after that, but it's still in the works. I can promise that I won't keep you all waiting for too long though, writing for these guys is just too much fun to let them to get pushed to the back burner.
> 
> As always, thank you so much for reading. Every single kudo and comment you leave makes my day and I love hearing your feedback! Stay tuned for what comes next, you won't want to miss it.


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